<\/a>Ernie Shore - while with the Red Sox - finished what the "Babe" started - MLB's first combined no-hitter.<\/p><\/div>Friday (June 8, 2012)<\/strong><\/span>, the Seattle Mariners, tied a major league record by using six pitchers to complete a 1-0 no-hit win<\/strong><\/span>over the Dodgers in Seattle.\u00a0 It was the tenth combined no-hitter in major league history, only the second inter-league combined no-hitter, and made Millwood (who left the game after six innings due to a groin injury) one of only three hurlers to start both an individual complete game no-hitter and a multi-pitcher no-hitter.\u00a0 The others are Kent Mercker and Vida Blue.\u00a0 As<\/p>\nWhen BBRT considers the concept of a six-pitcher no-hitter, it seems to be more of a statement of the hitters\u2019 collective futility than of pitching quality. \u00a0 More than a sustained no-hitter, the six-hurler no-hitter is a collection of good innings. \u00a0Still, combined no-hitters do make for interesting score cards and bits of baseball history.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take a look at past combined no-hitters and what made them unique.<\/p>\n
The first-ever combined no-hitter<\/strong><\/span> may have been the strangest. It came on June 23, 1917<\/strong><\/span>, 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.\u00a0 Ruth walked the first batter of the game \u2013 Senators\u2019 second baseman Ray Morgan – on four pitches.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 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.<\/p>\nThe next combined no-hitter didn\u2019t occur until 50 years later \u2013 on April 30, 1967<\/strong><\/span> – when Baltimore Orioles Steve Barber and Stu Miller combined to no-hit the Tigers in Baltimore.\u00a0 This \u201cgem\u201d 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.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The Orioles had scored in the eighth to take a 1-0 lead.\u00a0 The ninth went like this.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Stu Miller came on and saw third baseman Don Wert safe on an error, with Wood scoring.\u00a0 Then, finally, right fielder Al Kaline made the third out of the inning.\u00a0 The Orioles went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the night and the no-hitter was completed \u2013 and lost. \u00a0The only other losing no hitter came on April 23, 1964, when Houston Colt .45s hurler Ken Johnson\u00a0was beaten 1-0 by the Reds with an unearned ninth-inning run.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\nSeptember 28, 1975,<\/span><\/strong> saw the Oakland As\u2019 Vida Blue, Glenn Abbott, Paul Lindblad and Rollie Fingers no-hit the Angels in a 5-0 win in Oakland.\u00a0 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\u2019s 1984 perfect game against the Rangers at Arlington Stadium.)<\/p>\nOn July 28, 1976<\/span><\/strong>, John \u201cBlue Moon\u201d Odom (pitching for the White Sox) combined with Francisco Barrios to no-hit Odom\u2019s 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.\u00a0 Barrios tossed the final four innings, giving up 2 walks and striking out two.\u00a0 (The 11 walks in this game is the most given up in a no-hitter<\/strong><\/span>).<\/p>\nOn April 11, 1990<\/strong><\/span>, Mark Langston started a combined no-hitter for the Angels, playing at home against the Mariners.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 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<\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0 (As noted earlier, Witt threw a perfect game for the Angels against the Texas Rangers on September 30, 1984.)<\/p>\nJuly 13, 1991,<\/strong><\/span> the Orioles’ Bob Milacki, Mike Flanagan, Mark Williamson, and Greg Olson no-hit the As 2-0 \u2026 notable as one of two combined no-hitters that season.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nSeptember 11, 1991<\/strong><\/span>, Braves Kent Mercker, Mark Wohlers and Alejandro Pena no-hit the Padres 1-0 in the first National League combined no hitter<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\nThe only extra inning, combined no-hitter<\/span><\/strong> came on June 12, 1997<\/strong><\/span> \u2013 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.\u00a0 The game was started by Francisco Cordova, who went nine innings with 2 walks and ten strikeouts (121 pitches).\u00a0 Ricardo Rincon relieved in the tenth, walking one and striking out one.\u00a0 As you would expect, Cordova\u2019s nine innings are the most pitched by any one hurler in a combined no-no.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nOn June 11, 2003<\/span><\/strong>, Houston Astros\u2019 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).\u00a0Houston used six pitchers<\/strong><\/span> in that game, setting the record tied by the Mariners yesterday. \u00a0In addition, it was the first inter-league combined no-hitter<\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0 For more on the Astros\u2019 2003 feat, see the BBRT May 3, 2012, post on Jered Weaver\u2019 s no-hitter.<\/p>\nAnd that brings us up to the June 8 Mariners \/ Dodgers game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As BBRT considers the concept of a six-pitcher no-hitter, it seems to be more of a statement of the hitters\u2019 collective futility than of pitching quality. Friday (June 8, 2012), the Seattle Mariners, tied a major league record by using six pitchers to complete a 1-0 no-hit winover the Dodgers in Seattle.\u00a0 It was the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,9],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n