*Photo from The Guardian*
For Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Tyler Gilbert, he had basically the best start to an MLB career that you could possibly imagine. He threw a no hitter against one of the top tier teams in baseball, the San Diego Padres. Gilbert threw a no hitter, the offense backed him up, and the Diamondbacks defeated the Padres 7-0 on Saturday night.
D-Backs manager Torey Lovullo said "For me, it's what Major League Baseball or the game of baseball is all about. As long as you have a uniform, as long as you give the right effort, anything's possible. It lined up perfectly for him today. We're all celebrating him."
One year ago, during the pandemic that halted minor league baseball, Gilbert was working as an electrician with his dad. Now, he's throwing no hitters to start his big league career. He's the 4th player in MLB history to start his career with a no hitter, and the first since Bobo Holloman in 1953. Gilbert allowed 3 walks, all to Tommy Pham. The rest was perfect.
In team history, he's the first to throw a no hitter in his debut. He's only the 3rd D-Backs pitcher to ever throw a no hitter, and the first one to do it at Chase Field, their home ballpark. He would've been the 4th in D-Backs history to do it, if MLB had counted Madison Bumgarner's 7 inning no hitter earlier this season as an official no hitter. The last to officially do it was Edwin Jackson against the Tampa Bay Rays in 2010. It's the 8th no hitter in MLB this season.
Gilbert said of his first start that "I wasn't nervous at all, and I felt like I should have been. I don't know why, but I kept just going out there and doing my thing. I was really nervous before the game leading up to the game, but after the three-pitch eighth inning, I was like, 'OK, this is going to happen.' But, no, I just kind of stayed levelheaded and then kept making pitches."
The D-Backs used a 5 run first to give Gilbert the proper run support. First, Ketel Marte hit an RBI double, followed by a David Peralta RBI single. Then, Drew Ellis cranked a 3 run home run, and the D-Backs were quickly ahead 5-0 after one inning. In the 5th, Josh Rojas legged out an RBI triple, scoring Pavin Smith and making it 6-0 Arizona. In the 6th, an RBI single by Josh VanMeter made it 7-0.
Joe Musgrove was the losing pitcher for the Padres, and also the first pitcher to throw a no hitter this season, against the Texas Rangers back in April. Musgrove allowed 6 runs on 10 hits and two walks, striking out 4 hitters in 5 innings pitched. Miguel Diaz and Matt Strahm pitched in relief of Musgrove, with Strahm being responsible for the other run.
Musgrove said of throwing a no hitter, and then being no hit, "That’s a special moment and I got to live it. So, part of it was just watching the joy that he was experiencing and another part of it was letting it build that fire inside. That feeling is not good, getting no-hit."
The Padres and D-Backs conclude their series on Sunday afternoon, with Craig Stammen starting out of the bullpen for San Diego, and Zac Gallen getting the ball for Arizona.
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