It’s one of those ridiculous nonsensical proverbs that we’ve all heard dozens of times throughout our lives: ‘Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.’

Throwing a no-hitter is a big deal. Coming close to throwing a no-hitter is not. After all, a no-hitter isn’t horseshoe or hand grenades. You either throw a no-hitter, or you don’t – period. End of discussion.

When 25-year-old Atlanta Braves left-hander Sean Newcomb took his bid for a no-hitter down to the final strike of the ninth inning on Sunday afternoon in front of 40,303 tomahawk-chopping Braves fans at SunTrust Park, everyone wanted him to get that final strike, or a ground out, or a fly out.

…everyone except for the 25 players, coaches, and manager in the Dodgers dugout, that is.

To that point, Newcomb had made exactly 133 pitches. When he made his 134th, a 94-mph four-seam fastball on a 2-2 count to Chris Taylor, the popular Dodgers shortstop lined it sharply into left field for the Dodgers first hit of the afternoon.

Poof. Just like that, Newcomb’s brush with baseball immortality was gone.

It’s probably safe to say that there wasn’t a Dodger fan on the planet who wasn’t ecstatic when Chris Taylor, down to his and the Dodgers final strike, lined Sean Newcomb’s 134th pitch of the day into left field to break up Newcomb’s bid for a no-hitter. (Video capture courtesy of Fox Sports)

After Taylor’s hit, Braves manager Brian Snitker came out and got his visibly exhausted young left-hander, replacing him with hard-throwing right-hander Dan Winkler. Taylor would take second base on defensive indifference and would come around to score on a two-out single by Dodgers new superstar shortstop / third baseman Manny Machado to give the Dodgers their one and only run. Winkler then got Dodgers All-Star left fielder Matt Kemp to ground out to third to hand the Dodgers the 4-1 loss.

But here again, while most felt sympathy for Newcomb for having come oh so close to throwing a no-no, the Dodgers most definitely did not … especially Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

“I think there’s something to the pride factor that you don’t get no-hit, not letting one guy finish it, let alone no-hitting you,” Roberts told reporters after the game. “And you could see that with Cody’s at-bat in the ninth and obviously CT’s at-bat. They were going to do everything they could to not get no-hit, so I think there’s a little bit of something to that.”

Cody Bellinger had preceded Taylor at the plate and had forced the Braves left-hander to make nine pitches – including four foul balls – before finally flying out to right field. Taylor then forced Newcomb to make six pitches – including two foul balls – before breaking up Newcomb’s no-hit bid with his hard clean single to left.

“Just battled him, honestly,” said Taylor. “I was the only guy that got him a fourth time around. He’s got a really good fastball and I just wanted to be on time. If he got me with off-speed, fine. But he was going after guys with the high heater and I was just thinking ‘stay above it,’ just trying to shorten up. He was throwing it by guys all day.”

He did not throw number 134 by Chris Taylor, who had gone 0-for-3 against Newcomb with a strikeout prior to his history-wrecking base hit.

“A little bit of everything,” Newcomb said, about the emotions he was feeling throughout his brilliant outing. “I was happy to have gotten to that point, but then annoyed that it was just a ground ball through the hole.”

Horseshoes and hand grenades.