Milwaukee Brewers ace Corbin Burnes and star closer Josh Hader combined to throw Major League Baseball’s record ninth no-hitter this season. They combined for 16 strike outs and one walk in the 3-0 Brew Crew victory over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday night in Cleveland.
Tigers pitching coach Juan Nieves talks about Corbin Burnes and Josh Hader combining on the second no-hitter in Brewers history: pic.twitter.com/WiK6d5ByV2
— Todd Rosiak (@Todd_Rosiak) September 14, 2021
The game constitutes only the second no-hitter in the Brewers history and their first since 1987. Juan Nieves threw the team’s first no-hitter, an 8-0 win over the Orioles in Baltimore.
Burnes goes eight strong innnings
Burnes had great stuff all night striking out 11 of the first 14 batters he faced and also retired the first 18 in a row. Myles Straw’s walk to start the seventh was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect pitching night. The closet the Indians came to a base hit was Owen Miller’s line drive to centerfield that was snagged by Lorenzo Cain to end the seventh inning.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1436854996516098049
The fans at Progressive Field booed as Manager Craig Counsell replaced Burnes with Hader to start the ninth inning. Burnes had already thrown a career high 115 pitches and Counsell wanted to preserve the win and the no-hitter.
To his credit, Burnes said after the game; “Anyone would want to keep pitching in that situation, but if there was anyone I would want out there for the ninth, it would be Josh Hader,” Burnes said. “There were no nerves with him. It was more like a done deal when he came in.” Hader finished up with a one-two-three inning including two strikeouts to record his 31st save.
Ninth No-hitter of 2021
San Diego pitcher Joe Musgrove started the no-hit parade in April with the first no-no in Padres history. Carlos Rodon for the White Sox added one 5 days after Musgrove’s. May saw no-hitters by John Means of the Orioles, Wade Miley of the Reds, Spencer Turnbull of the Tigers, and Corey Kluber of the Yankees.
There was one no-hitter in June and that was a combined effort by four Chicago White Sox pitchers. Zach Davies, Andrew Chafin, Ryan Terpera, and Craig Kimbrel to blank the Dodgers by a score of 4-0. In August, Tyler Gilbert from the Diamondbacks pitched the eighth no-hit game of the season beating the Padres.
Tyler Gilbert's dad had an amazing reaction to his son's no-hitter. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/11MGrvvLIF
— MLB (@MLB) August 15, 2021
It should be noted that Madison Bumgarner of the Diamondbacks threw a no-hitter against the Braves in April. However, it was only a seven-inning game, due to it being the first game of a double-header, therefore it does not count as an official no-hitter. This was also true of a combined effort by the Tampa Bay Rays in June where Colin McHugh, Josh Fleming, Diego Castillo, Matt Wisler, and Pete Fairbanks threw a shortened no-no against the Indians.
Brew Crew Cy Young?
In conclusion, Brew Crew expert Tyler Koerth of the Beer District Podcast had this to say about Burnes’ gem: “It was inevitable that the Brewers would throw a no-hitter this season. It is very appropriate that Corbin Burnes would play a huge role in the team’s first ever combined no-hitter, given the dominating season he is having. Those eight innings of no-hit baseball hopefully will sway a few more votes to him when it comes to Cy Young voting.”
End of Summer Savings—Save Up to 75% Off Newsstand Prices Today (offer ends 9/30)
