Austin Nola ends Zack Greinke's bid for 1st career no-hitter after 8.1 near-perfect innings
Few feats have eluded Zack Greinke in his pitching career, but even after a promising effort Wednesday night in Seattle, one still remains: Greinke has yet to throw a no-hitter.
The 2009 AL Cy Young winner had a no-no going through 8.1 innings before Austin Nola put down a single – it was his first at-bat of the night after replacing Dee Gordon at second base in the eighth inning. Greinke had a perfect game going until surrendering a sixth-inning walk to Gordon.
Tim Lopes also singled after Nola, and Greinke’s night ended after 108 pitches. Will Harris came in to close it out and the Astros won 3-0.
Seattle avoided becoming the first team in history to get no-hit three times in one season. On July 12, Los Angeles Angels pitchers Taylor Cole and Félix Peña combined to no-hit the M’s, and on Aug. 3, the Astros’ Aaron Sanchez, Will Harris, Joe Biagini and Chris Devenski combined to do the same.
The Astros, conversely, would have been the first team to throw three no-hitters in a year had Greinke succeeded. A month after the four-man effort, Justin Verlander took down the Toronto Blue Jays with his third career no-hitter.
Greinke, 35, is in his 16th MLB season. After taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning over the summer, the notoriously all-business veteran said that throwing a no-no wasn’t really on his bucket list.
"It would just probably be more hassle than anything ... just a bunch of nonsense comes with it,” he said at the time. Lucky for Greinke, apparently, he’s avoided the great burden of throwing a no-hitter for the time being.
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