On a moist, 83-degree day within the nation’s capital, Dylan Stop was sweating by way of his San Diego Padres uniform, the brown pin-striped jersey now extra of a darkish grey. The ninth inning had simply begun and Stop had but to permit successful. He had thrown 103 pitches — a low sufficient whole, even in immediately’s recreation, to get a shot at finishing the no-hitter.
Ildemaro Vargas battled for eight pitches, fouling off 5 pitches, earlier than lastly grounding out to second base. Jacob Younger swung at a first-pitch slider and grounded out routinely to shortstop. CJ Abrams took a slider low and in after which swung at one other one, lifting a delicate liner to proper discipline.
With that remaining out, Stop had his first profession no-hitter — simply the second in franchise historical past after Joe Musgrove broke by way of in 2021 — and accomplished one of many nice three-game stretches in main league historical past.
On July 13, he allowed one hit with 11 strikeouts in six scoreless innings to beat the Atlanta Braves. Then, in his subsequent begin July 20, he allowed one hit with 10 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings to beat the Cleveland Guardians.
Now, he has gone the space, putting out 9 batters en path to the primary no-no of his profession.
Stop, who pitched 8â…” no-hit innings with the White Sox in a 2022 recreation earlier than seeing the bid damaged up by present teammate Luis Arraez, stated he first began occupied with the no-hitter after the sixth inning, “however the pitch rely was excessive, so it was like, ‘Uhh … .'”
He issued a leadoff stroll within the seventh however managed to get by way of the inning in 16 pitches. He advised supervisor Mike Shildt that he nonetheless felt nice however figured he needed to get by way of the eighth inning in 105 pitches. With a straightforward nine-pitch inning, he had room to exit for the ninth.
Remarkably, this was Stop’s sixth begin this season of a minimum of six innings permitting one or fewer hits. That is a significant league report — 10 pitchers, together with Stop in 2022, are tied for second with 4 such video games in a season. This won’t be fairly as spectacular because it appears; since pitchers hardly ever throw full video games anymore (and even eight innings), seven of these different 10 pitchers did it since 2021. Nonetheless, it factors to how troublesome it’s to sq. up Stop, particularly his slider, which he threw 60 instances Thursday. He leads the majors in strikeouts; batters are hitting simply .191 towards him (though his ERA is a bit excessive for a Cy Younger contender at 3.50).
Now, about that three-start stretch. To say Stop’s is an all-time nice is a bit more troublesome because you’re evaluating him to pitchers who, again within the day, would have thrown three straight full video games. Nonetheless, he is the primary pitcher to have three consecutive begins of a minimum of six innings permitting one or fewer hits. Let’s listing a few of the different candidates, leaving out the dead-ball period:
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Johnny Vander Meer, 1938 Cincinnati Reds (June 5-15): The one pitcher with back-to-back no-hitters, Vander Meer allowed three hits and one run in his begin earlier than the primary no-hitter. However he additionally had 14 walks and 17 strikeouts over the three video games. Three-start common recreation rating: 84.7
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Sandy Koufax, 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers (July 3-12): He tossed three consecutive three-hit shutouts, racking up 26 strikeouts. Common recreation rating: 89.0
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Koufax, 1965 Dodgers (Sept. 25-Oct. 2): With the Dodgers battling for the pennant (they’d win by two video games over the San Francisco Giants), Koufax tossed two shutouts, allowed one run and fanned 38 batters in his remaining three begins. Common recreation rating: 88.3
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Bob Gibson, 1968 St. Louis Cardinals (June 15-26): One of the best three-game stretch of Gibson’s 1.12 ERA season: three straight shutouts with 26 strikeouts and 13 hits allowed (a part of a stretch of 5 straight shutouts). Common recreation rating: 86.7
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Nolan Ryan, 1972 Los Angeles Angels (Aug. 22-31): Three straight shutouts — considered one of them 12 innings, which boosts his common recreation. Total line: 30 IP, 13 H, 13 BB, 31 SO. Common recreation rating: 89.3
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Dwight Gooden, 1984 New York Mets (Sept. 7-17): The 19-year-old rookie tossed an 11-strikeout one-hitter after which back-to-back 16-strikeout video games, a type of one other shutout. Common recreation rating: 87.7
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Randy Johnson, 1997 Seattle Mariners (Could 28-June 8): Three straight scoreless begins, together with two 15-strikeout video games and simply seven hits allowed. Common recreation rating: 89.7
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Roger Clemens, 1998 Toronto Blue Jays (Aug. 20-30): Three-hit shutout, three-hit shutout and two-hit shutout with strikeout totals of six, 18 and 7, respectively. Common recreation rating: 90.3
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Pedro Martinez, 1999 Boston Purple Sox (Aug. 30-Sept. 10): This was a part of a ridiculous eight-start stretch the place Martinez fanned a minimum of 11 batters in each begin (107 strikeouts in 62 innings with a 1.16 ERA). He allowed one run in six innings with 11 Ok’s, no runs in eight innings with 15 Ok’s after which one run in his well-known 17-strikeout recreation towards the New York Yankees. Common recreation rating: 86.0
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Max Scherzer, 2015 Washington Nationals (June 14-26): A 16-strikeout one-hitter, adopted by a 10-strikeout no-hitter (he misplaced an ideal recreation when he hit the twenty seventh batter), adopted by eight innings of two-run ball. Common recreation rating: 89.3
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Clayton Kershaw, 2015 Dodgers (July 18-Aug. 1): Peak Kershaw was one thing. On this stretch, he allowed no runs in 25 innings with simply 8 hits, 32 strikeouts and 1 stroll. And within the recreation earlier than this stretch, he tossed an eight-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts. Common recreation rating: 88.7
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Dylan Stop, 2023 Padres (July 13-25): Two hits allowed over 22 innings with 30 strikeouts and no runs. Common recreation rating: 85.0
Subjectively, I would in all probability go together with Scherzer’s trio, which options in all probability probably the most dominant back-to-back efforts ever — though you must give Koufax additional credit score for doing it within the remaining days of a heated playoff race in 1965. For me, Stop simply did not play fairly sufficient innings to get the nod for one of the best three-start stretch ever.
Properly, not but — however let’s have a look at what he does subsequent outing.
