While many of us on the East Coast were sleeping (or out doing exactly the opposite of that), Jonathan Sanchez of the Giants threw a no-hitter against the Padres (nice live-blogging by Dave Pinto.) And if Juan Uribe hadn't committed a fielding error, it would have been a perfect game. Sanchez struck out eleven, and more impressively for him, didn't walk or hit a single batter. 28 up, 27 down, no hits, no walks, no nothing, except for that Uribe error. Of course, the Giants defense might have helped out on some other batted balls, I'm not sure.
It's so nice that after the frustration of the Royals and Mets stupidity yesterday, we're also able to celebrate a part of baseball history. According to Baseball-Reference's Play Index, there have been 123 9+ inning performances by starting pitchers where they allowed no hits (a "no-hitter" in my book.) Well, make that 124 after last night. The highest Game Score for these no-hitters is 101. That feat belongs to Nolan Ryan and his 16 strikeout, 2 walk performance against the Blue Jays in 1991, and Sandy Koufax' 14-strikeout perfect game against the Cubs in 1965. Sanchez clocked in at 98 last night, a number that had only been reached 14 other times:
GmSc Player Tm Opp Date 101 Nolan Ryan TEX TOR 5/1/91 101 Sandy Koufax LAD CHC 9/9/65 100 Randy Johnson ARI @ATL 5/18/04 100 Nolan Ryan CAL @DET 7/15/73 100 Warren Spahn MLN PHI 9/16/60 99 Nolan Ryan TEX @OAK 6/11/90 99 Don Wilson HOU ATL 6/18/67 98 Eric Milton MIN ANA 9/11/99 98 David Wells NYY MIN 5/17/98 98 Mike Scott HOU SFG 9/25/86 98 Len Barker CLE TOR 5/15/81 98 Denn Eckersley CLE CAL 5/30/77 98 Catfish Hunter OAK MIN 5/8/68 98 Sandy Koufax LAD @PHI 6/4/64
Yes, that's three appearances by Nolan Ryan and two by Sandy Koufax.
The lowest Game Score for a no-hitter since 1953 is 88, belonging to three guys: Joe Cowley, Ken Holtzman, and George Culver.
Welcome to the club, Jonathan Sanchez, now let's see if you can join the twice-in-a-row club.