Justin Verlander of Manakin-Sabot, Virginia recorded his third career no-hitter on Sunday in the Houston Astros 2-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Verlander’s first two career no-hitters came with the Detroit Tigers. The first came on June 12, 2007 in a 4-0 Tigers win over the Milwaukee Brewers and the second came on May 7, 2011 in a 9-0 Tigers win over the Blue Jays. The last two Verlander no-hitters have occurred at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
Verlander is now tied for third all-time in no-hitters with three. Nolan Ryan of Refugio, TX is the all-time leader with seven, while Sandy Koufax of Brooklyn, NY is second all-time with four no-hitters. Four of Verlander’s no-hitters came with the California Angels, two with the Texas Rangers and one with the Houston Astros. All of Koufax’s no-hitters came with the Los Angeles Dodgers. On September 9, 1965, Koufax threw a perfect game in a 1-0 Dodgers win over the Chicago Cubs.
Verlander is tied for third with three other pitchers with three no-hitters. The other three are Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller of Van Meter, IA, Cy Young of Gilmore, OH and Chicago Cubs pitcher Larry Corcoran of Brooklyn, NY. Young’s first no-hitter was with the Cleveland Spiders, and his next two no-hitters were with Boston-based teams. He had a perfect game in a 3-0 Boston Americans win over the Philadelphia Athletics on May 5, 1904 and then another no-hitter with the Boston Red Sox in 1908.
In the Astros win over the Blue Jays on Sunday, Verlander had 120 pitches, of which 79 were strikes. He had 14 strikeouts and one walk. The only Blue Jays player to get on base was Cavan Biggio of Houston, TX, who walked in the first inning,
Ironically, the only Blue Jays base runner was from Houston and the only Astros player to generate their offense in the game was Canadian. Astros third baseman Abraham Toro of Longueuil, Quebec hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning.
The Astros are currently at 89 wins and 49 losses. They have a 10 game lead over the Oakland Athletics in the American League West.
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