As BBRT considers the concept of a six-pitcher no-hitter, it seems to be more of a statement of the hitters’ collective futility than of pitching quality.
Ernie Shore - while with the Red Sox - finished what the "Babe" started - MLB's first combined no-hitter.
When BBRT considers the concept of a six-pitcher no-hitter, it seems to be more of a statement of the hitters’ collective futility than of pitching quality. More than a sustained no-hitter, the six-hurler no-hitter is a collection of good innings. Still, combined no-hitters do make for interesting score cards and bits of baseball history. Let’s take a look at past combined no-hitters and what made them unique.
The first-ever combined no-hitter may have been the strangest. It came on June 23, 1917, when Red Sox ace lefty Babe Ruth (Ruth had won 23 games in 1916 and was on his way to a 24-win season in 1917) started on the mound at Fenway, facing the Washington Senators. Ruth walked the first batter of the game – Senators’ second baseman Ray Morgan – on four pitches. The hot-headed Ruth quickly earned an ejection for arguing with the home plate umpire, and the Red Sox brought in ErnieShore(on just two-days rest). Morgan was quickly thrown out stealing and Shore went on to retire the next 26 batters in order (two strikeouts) for a combined no-hitter that was close to a perfect game.
The next combined no-hitter didn’t occur until 50 years later – on April 30, 1967 – when Baltimore Orioles Steve Barber and Stu Miller combined to no-hit the Tigers in Baltimore. This “gem” is most noted for the fact that it is the only combined no-hitter in which the team that was no-hit managed to get the win. Barber went 8.2 innings, but walked ten (striking out three) in the 2-1 loss. Despite the walks, it looked pretty good for Barber going into the top of the ninth. The Orioles had scored in the eighth to take a 1-0 lead. The ninth went like this. Barber walked Tiger first basemen Norm Cash to start the inning (Dick Tracewski ran for Cash); Barber then walked light-hitting shortstop Ray Oyler; Tiger pitcher Earl Wilson bunted the runners to second and third; Willie Horton fouled out pinch hitting for second baseman Dick McCauliffe; Jake Wood was brought in to run for Oyler; a Barber wild pitch with center fielder Mickey Stanley at the plate enabled Tracewski to score, tying the game; then Stanley walked and that was all for Barber. Stu Miller came on and saw third baseman Don Wert safe on an error, with Wood scoring. Then, finally, right fielder Al Kaline made the third out of the inning. The Orioles went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the night and the no-hitter was completed – and lost. The only other losing no hitter came on April 23, 1964, when Houston Colt .45s hurler Ken Johnson was beaten 1-0 by the Reds with an unearned ninth-inning run. There have also been two eight-inning no-hitter losses (the home team did not bat in the bottom of the ninth), but MLB does not recognize these as official no- hitters.
September 28, 1975, saw the Oakland As’ Vida Blue, Glenn Abbott, Paul Lindblad and Rollie Fingers no-hit the Angels in a 5-0 win in Oakland. The only tidbit here is that this no-hitter took place on the final day of the regular season – one of only two final day no-hitters (the other being Mike Witt’s 1984 perfect game against the Rangers at Arlington Stadium.)
On July 28, 1976, John “Blue Moon” Odom (pitching for the White Sox) combined with Francisco Barrios to no-hit Odom’s former team, the As. In a 2-1 victory in Oakland, Odom started and went just five innings, walking nine and striking out three. His ninth walk was the lead-off hitter in the sixth inning of a 1-1 tie, which earned Odom an early exit despite the fact that he had not given up a hit. Barrios tossed the final four innings, giving up 2 walks and striking out two. (The 11 walks in this game is the most given up in a no-hitter).
On April 11, 1990, Mark Langston started a combined no-hitter for the Angels, playing at home against the Mariners. The Angels scored in the bottom of the seventh to take a 1-0 lead and Langston, who had thrown 99 pitches in this early-season start, was relieved by Mike Witt, who closed it out with 2 perfect innings (two strikeouts). Of interest here is that it makes Witt the only hurler to throw a no-hitter as a starter and participate in a no-hitter as a reliever. (As noted earlier, Witt threw a perfect game for the Angels against the Texas Rangers on September 30, 1984.)
July 13, 1991, the Orioles’ Bob Milacki, Mike Flanagan, Mark Williamson, and Greg Olson no-hit the As 2-0 … notable as one of two combined no-hitters that season.
September 11, 1991, Braves Kent Mercker, Mark Wohlers and Alejandro Pena no-hit the Padres 1-0 in the first National League combined no hitter.
The only extra inning, combined no-hitter came on June 12, 1997 – with the Pittsburgh Pirates downing the Houston Astros 3-0 in ten innings on a walk-off three-run homer by pinch-hitter Mark Smith. The game was started by Francisco Cordova, who went nine innings with 2 walks and ten strikeouts (121 pitches). Ricardo Rincon relieved in the tenth, walking one and striking out one. As you would expect, Cordova’s nine innings are the most pitched by any one hurler in a combined no-no.
On June 11, 2003, Houston Astros’ starter Roy Oswalt aggravated a groin injury in the second inning of what went on to become a combined no-hit, 8-0 victory over the Yankees (at Yankee Stadium). Houston used six pitchers in that game, setting the record tied by the Mariners yesterday. In addition, it was the first inter-league combined no-hitter. For more on the Astros’ 2003 feat, see the BBRT May 3, 2012, post on Jered Weaver’ s no-hitter.
And that brings us up to the June 8 Mariners / Dodgers game.
