Jason Heyward wouldn’t let David Ross take him out of Alec Mills’ no-hitter

The veteran outfielder wasn’t going to leave the game with Alec Mills’ no-hitter in tact.

MLB action took a bit of a backseat on Sunday due to the return of NFL football throughout the day. But there was one baseball story that received plenty of attention, and that was the no-hitter thrown by Alec Mills of the Chicago Cubs. Mills has his teammates to thank, as he the Cubs won 12-0 against the rival Milwaukee Brewers. With the game being a blowout, the expectation was that the starters would retreat to the bench to prevent injury. One veteran starter wasn’t leaving whatsoever.

During a postgame conference call, Mills got emotional when he was told that outfielder Jason Heyward asked manager David Ross to keep him in for the remainder of the game to ensure he got the no-hitter. That’s a true teammate right there.

Heyward wanted to help secure Mills’ no-no

It made sense as to why Heyward wanted to stay in the game despite it being a blowout. Heyward is a five-time Gold Glove winner, which would definitely come in handy if you wanted to secure a no-hitter. Ross asked Heyward if he wanted to be removed as a safety precaution, but he said he wanted to help out the 28-year-old.

In nine innings of work, Mills struck out five batters while walking three on 114 pitches thrown. Mills became the 16th Cubs pitcher to throw a no-hitter in franchise history, while securing the first no-no since Jake Arrieta did so in 2016, the very season where the team broke their 108-year curse to win the World Series. This is also the second no-hitter in the league this season, with the other ironically coming from Lucas Giolito of the Chicago White Sox last month.

Heyward recorded two hits, scored three runs and knocked in one run in three at-bats on Sunday afternoon.

While the no-hitter was nice, Mills received the gift of Heyward having his back whenever he’s on the mound. That’s pretty good, if you ask us.