An amazing thing with Major League Baseball is that despite an annual 162-game schedule (since 1962 in the National League, and since 1961 in the American League), we still see quite a bit of history made. The latest case of that came Saturday, when Detroit Tigers’ pitchers Matt Manning, Jason Foley, and Alex Lange produced the team’s first-ever combined no-hitter in a 2-0 home win over the Toronto Blue Jays:
This was the ninth no-hitter overall in Tigers’ history. But remarkably, as MLB’s Sarah Langs pointed out, it was only the second MLB no-hitter on July 8:
It is incredible to see a MLB accomplishment last reached by Red Donahue against the Boston Beaneaters in 1898. What’s also incredible is what a roller coaster it’s been for the Tigers recently:
In this one, Manning pitched six and two-thirds innings. He left in the seventh after walking Cavan Biggio with two outs, recording a final line of 91 pitches, five strikeouts, three walks, and a hit batsman. Foley then came in and struck out Whit Merrifield to end the seventh, then pitched a perfect eighth inning. And Lange then came in to get the final three outs, and to deliver a memorable postgame interview:
After this victory, the Tigers are now 39-49 on the year. The Blue Jays, by contrast, are 49-41. But Detroit was far better on the day, and their pitching performance was something not seen on July 8 since the 19th century.
[ESPN]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.