The 2019 Toronto Blue Jays flirted with being no-hit by Trevor Bauer on April 4 and Shane Bieber on July 24, but it ultimately took a veteran ace, Justin Verlander of the Houston Astros, to lock one down. Verlander completed his third career no-hitter during the finale of Jays’ and Astros’ weekend series at Rogers Centre on September 1. The game was scoreless for eight innings until Jays RP Ken Giles allowed a two-run bomb to INF Abraham Toro in the top of the 9th, saving Astros manager A.J. Hinch from a possible decision to remove Verlander from the game in extra innings.
As the 2019 Blue Jays have one of the worst offenses in MLB (currently ranked 23rd by fWAR), at least one fan predicted Verlander’s feat:
Can’t wait to add another Verlander no-hitter to the MLB teevee highlights https://t.co/q9JtP8W8Hk
— Lesleytatious Ghost (@Lesley_NOPE) August 31, 2019
His final line was no runs allowed on no hits with one walk and 14 strikeouts over 9.0 IP. The eight-time All-Star now has a record of 17-5 with a 2.56 ERA and 257 strikeouts in 193.0 IP.
Verlander is the sixth MLB pitcher with three or more no-hitters. The other pitchers in this club are Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax, Bob Feller, Larry Corcoran and Cy Young.
Since Verlander had previously recorded a no-hitter against the Jays at Rogers Centre on May 7, 2011 as a member of the Detroit Tigers, he became the third pitcher with more than one no-hitter against the same team, and the first to throw a no-hitter twice at the same ballpark as a visiting pitcher.
Sunday’s victory reduced the Astros’ magic number to clinch the AL West division pennant to 16 with 24 games left to play. They will face the Milwaukee Brewers at 4:10 PM ET this afternoon at Miller Park in Milwaukee as part of the special Labor Day schedule. Matchup: Gerrit Cole (15-5, 2.85 ERA) vs. Adrian Houser (6-5, 3.52 ERA). Support the site by purchasing your tickets from SeatGeek!
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