*Photo from the New York Post*
There are a lot of pitchers with very strong cases for the NL Cy Young this offseason. Corbin Burnes probably jumped past a bunch of them with this performance. Burnes passed 200 strikeouts, Christian Yelich gave him early run support, and the Milwaukee Brewers combined to no hit the Cleveland Indians with a 3-0 win on Saturday afternoon.
The combined no hitter is the 9th no hitter thrown in baseball this season, which is the most no hitters thrown in a single season, breaking the record set all the way back in 1884. It also gives the Brewers a record of 33 games over .500, a franchise record, and their magic number to clinch the NL Central dropped to 8 games.
Brewers catcher Omar Narvaez talked about Burnes's stuff after the game, saying that "As soon as I got out of the first inning I came to the manager and said, ‘His cutter is moving like a slider at 97. It was even hard for me to try to catch it and frame it for a strike, because he had a lot of movement today."
This is also just the second no hitter thrown in Brewers history, and the first combined no hitter by Milwaukee pitching. It was Juan Nieves who has the honor of throwing the first no hitter in Brewers history, back in April of 1987. Burnes, who was born 7 years after Nieves threw the no hitter, was the man who gave the Brewers their next one.
Yelich quickly gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead in the first, with an RBI double to center field that scored Kolten Wong. Yelich then scored on a sac fly from Narvaez to give Milwaukee a 2-0 lead before Burnes even took the mound. In the second, Dan Vogelbach scored on an RBI double off the bat of Rowdy Tellez, giving the Brewers a 3-0 lead. Burnes did the rest.
Burnes took care of the first 8 innings, allowing just one walk, issued to Myles Straw in the 7th inning. That was the only thing that separated the no hitter from a perfect game. Burnes entered the game 4 K's short of 200, but he blazed past that number, punching out 14 hitters, another brilliant effort. Josh Hader then came on in the 9th and finished the job, striking out two more hitters.
Hader talked about being called on to finish the no-hitter in the 9th, saying postgame that "I was nervous. I was nervous as heck when they called and said I was in the game. You don’t want to be the guy that gives up the hit in that situation, especially after eight innings of clean baseball. Watching those 8 innings was incredible."
For the Indians, they became a part of history with this no hitter, something they'd rather not be a part of. They have now been no-hit 3 times this season, previously being no hit by Carlos Rodon of the Chicago White Sox in April, and Wade Miley of the Cincinnati Reds in May. They are the first team in baseball history to be no-hit 3 times in the same season. They were also no-hit in game two of a doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays in July, but that does not count as an official no-hitter.
As if that wasn't bad enough for the Indians, starting pitcher Zach Plesac was the pitcher who started all 3 games they were no-hit in. Plesac lasted just 2/3 of an inning against the White Sox, but went 8 strong against the Reds, and his outing was wasted. He's the second pitcher to start a game in which his team was no-hit 3 times since Jim Perry in 1970, and two times in 1973.
Plesac was the one hit with the loss for the Indians, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits and two walks, striking out 3 hitters in 6 innings, dropping to a 10-5 record this season. Bryan Shaw, Blake Parker, and Justin Garza all pitched in relief of Plesac, all throwing shutout innings in relief.
Acting Indians manager DeMarlo Hale said of being no-hit once again that "You deal with it, you get up and play tomorrow. The good thing about no-hitters, it's only one loss. I know it's been three times, but you deal with it, you move on, you understand the level of competition you're playing against and you move on. I don't have an answer for that."
The Brewers and Indians will wrap up the series this afternoon, with Eric Lauer getting the start for Milwaukee. Aaron Civale will counter as he starts for the Indians.
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