Drew Smyly loses perfect game bid after catcher accidentally tackles him [VIDEO]

There have been some pretty heart-wrenching ways that pitchers have lost perfect game bids throughout MLB history. Mike Mussina coming a single strike away against the Boston Red Sox, for example, or Jim Joyce’s infamous missed call at first base that cost Armando Galarraga his perfecto back in 2010.

But Drew Smyly now has a war story that ranks up there with any of them. The Chicago Cubs lefty was cruising through seven innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers, with 10 strikeouts among his 21 batters faced and retired. Up stepped David Peralta, a lefty with horrible platoon splits who entered play Friday with a .567 OPS. And that’s when it all went terribly wrong:

To add insult to injury, Smyly basically got tackled by his catcher Yan Gomes, who was understandably determined to try and make a play to help preserve his pitcher’s shot at history. Smyly was lifted after 7.2 innings, with just that one blemish on his stat line. No one ever said baseball was a kind game.

Maybe we shouldn’t have been so surprised by Smyly’s dominance. The lefty has had it working so far this season, with back-to-back one-run outings leading into Friday — including last time out against this very same Dodgers team.