Ariel Miranda gave up a run and still tried to no-hit the Astros
Seattle Mariners pitcher Ariel Miranda managed to steal the headlines from Justin Verlander in his first start as a member of the Houston Astros. Both men went six innings and both men gave up one run. But when Miranda was pulled from the game, he had a no-hitter intact.
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Yeah, Miranda threatened to throw a no-hitter despite giving up a run. Want to take a wild stab at how that happened?
If you picked terrible control, you’re right. In the third inning, Miranda walked Carlos Beltran, Cameron Maybin and George Springer to load the bases with one out. Alex Bregman hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Beltran from third.
After three innings, Miranda had a no-hitter, but was in line for the loss. The Mariners managed to tie things up in the fourth, making sure that wouldn’t happen.
Despite that, Miranda’s control didn’t improve. He walked a batter in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
By the end of the sixth, Miranda still had not allowed a hit, but had thrown a career-high 112 pitches. That was enough to convince manager Scott Servais to make the call to the pen. Over six innings, Miranda gave up one run on zero hits with five strikeouts. He walked six and left with a no-decision.
The combined no-hitter didn’t last long, as Mariners reliever Emilio Pagan gave up a two-run homer to Maybin with one out in the seventh inning.
While Miranda’s walks killed any chance of a solo no-hitter happening, it still made for a statistical oddity. Giving up a run while throwing a no-hitter doesn’t happen often — only 12 times in the past 100 years — but you don’t have to go back too far to find the last time it occurred.
Back in 2011, Ervin Santana, then a member of the Los Angeles Angels, tossed a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians. Cleveland managed a run in the first inning on an error and a wild pitch. That was the only offense they could muster.
Miranda didn’t go the distance, making that last paragraph meaningless trivia you can use to impress your friends. Still, we enjoy the occasional strange stat line, and Miranda’s performance checks that box.
His efforts were all for naught, though, as the Mariners lost the contest 3-1. In a cruel twist of fate, the team whose rotation has been devastated by injuries all year finally gets a strong start, but blows it by failing to score runs.
It’s the type of game that normally destroys a fanbase, but Mariners’ supporters are numb to these types of losses by now.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
