No-hitters (Baseball)

In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine complete innings recorded no hits. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is thereby said to have "thrown a no-hitter". In most cases, no-hitters are recorded by a single pitcher who throws a complete game; one thrown by two or more pitchers is a combined no-hitter. A no-hitter is a rare accomplishment for a pitcher or pitching staff—only 326 have been thrown in MLB history since 1876, an average of about two per year. The most recent major league no-hitter and combined no-hitter was thrown by starter Shota Imanaga and relief pitchers Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge of the Chicago Cubs against the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 4, 2024, while the most recent no-hitter by a single pitcher was thrown by Blake Snell of the San Francisco Giants against the Cincinnati Reds on August 2, 2024. The MLB season with the most no-hit games under modern rules is 12, in 1897. The second highest season is a tie between 1991 and 2021 seasons, in which nine official no-hitters were pitched. Additionally, there were two other games pitched without giving up a hit, but were not official no-hitters because they were less than nine innings. It is possible for a batter to reach base without a hit, most commonly by a walk, an error, or being hit by a pitch. Other possibilities include the batter reaching first after an uncaught third strike or catcher's interference. (One other possibility is a fielder's choice, but this requires that there already is a runner on base.) A no-hitter in which no batters reach base at all is a perfect game, a much rarer feat. Because batters can reach base by means other than a hit, a pitcher can throw a no-hitter (though not a perfect game) and still give up runs or even lose the game, although this is extremely uncommon, and most no-hitters are also shutouts. One or more runs were given up in 25 recorded no-hitters in MLB history, most recently by Ervin Santana of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in a 3–1 win against the Cleveland Indians on July 27, 2011. On two occasions, a team has thrown a nine-inning no-hitter and still lost the game. It is theoretically possible for opposing pitchers to throw no-hitters in the same game, although this has never happened in the major leagues. Two pitchers, Fred Toney and Hippo Vaughn, completed nine innings of a game on May 2, 1917, without either giving up a hit or a run; Vaughn gave up two hits and a run in the 10th inning, losing the game to Toney, who completed the extra-inning no-hitter.