Eight years ago, Justin Verlander earned his second career no-hitter inside Rogers Centre with the Detroit Tigers. History repeated itself on Sunday with Verlander duplicating the feat in a 2-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Verlander’s third career no-hitter puts him in a very exclusive club as one of six pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball to have more than two no-hitters alongside Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax, Cy Young, Bob Feller, and Larry Corcoran.
Sunday’s matchup between the Astros and the Blue Jays saw the score be tied at 0-0 heading into the ninth inning. That all changed when Abraham Toro hit his second career home run with two outs, also scoring Alex Bregman.
Then came Verlander’s attempt at history in the bottom of the ninth. Brandon Drury grounded out to Alex Bregman then it was followed up by Reese McGuire striking out swinging for his 14th strikeout of the afternoon. Bo Bichette had a full count going for him headed into the seventh pitch of the at-bat. The 21-year-old shortstop then hit a ground ball directly towards Toro which he threw to Aledmys Diaz, etching Verlander’s name in the history books.
This isn’t the first time that the Astros recorded a no-hitter this season as they recorded a combined no-hitter on August 3rd in Aaron Sanchez’ debut for the franchise after being traded at the deadline by the Blue Jays.