It has only happened five times in Major League Baseball history, a team win a game without a benefit of a hit. That's exactly what happened in Saturday's Interleague match-up between the Dodgers and the Angels, as the Dodgers won 1-0 despite being held hitless.
The Angels' Jered Weaver held the Dodgers without a hit through six innings before being removed for a pinch-hitter and turning things over to Jose Arredondo, who retired the Dodgers in order in the seventh and eighth innings. The game did not qualify as an official no-hitter because the Dodgers did not bat in their half of the ninth inning.
The Dodgers scored in the fifth on a pair of errors, a stolen base and a sacrifice fly. Weaver committed the first error when he couldn't cleanly field leadoff hitter Matt Kemp's dribbler up the first base line.
Check out these interesting bits of info from ESPN's Tim Kurkjian:
- This is the third time in the expansion era (since 1961) that baseball has had an eight-inning no-hitter: Boston's Matt Young threw one against Cleveland in 1992, and the Yankees' Andy Hawkins pitched one against the White Sox in 1990. They were officially considered no-hitters at the time, but several years ago, the rule was changed. Now, according to major league rules, an official no-hitter is "when a pitcher (or pitchers) allows no hits during the entire course of a game, which consists of at least nine innings.'' So, the no-hitters by Young and Hawkins no longer are considered no-hitters, nor is the no-hitter thrown by Weaver and Arredondo, who pitched the seventh and eighth innings for the road team Saturday night.
- In the divisional era (since 1969), there have been three no-hitters in which a run was scored by the losing team: Darryl Kile allowed one in his no-hitter in 1993, Joe Cowley in his in 1986, and Blue Moon Odom and Francisco Barrios in their combined no-hitter in 1976. (Cowley walked eight in his no-hitter. Then-White Sox coach Doug Rader jokingly said after the game that "Cowley pitched so badly, I didn't even shake his hand after the game.'')
- The Angels have thrown eight no-hitters in franchise history; the past six have involved either Nolan Ryan (four) or Mike Witt, who threw a perfect game in 1984, then pitched in a combined no-hitter with Mark Langston on April 11, 1990. The most recent no-hitter at Dodger Stadium was by Kent Mercker of the Braves on April 8, 1994. But those are still in play because a no-hitter was not thrown Saturday night at Dodger Stadium, even though the Dodgers didn't get a hit.
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MLB
angels, dodgers, no-hitters, jered weaver, jose arredondo