Cincinnati Reds‘ pitcher Homer Bailey pitched the second no-hitter of his career on Tuesday, shutting out the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants 3-0. This was the first no-hitter thrown in the 2013 season. Five no-hitters had occurred by this point last season.
Bailey pitched his no-hitter on Tuesday, in front of the home fans at the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, but only in front of 27, 509 spectators. His last no-hitter was a 1-0 win in Pittsburgh against the Pirates, on September 28 of last year. Since no one has pitched a no-hitter since that game in Pittsburgh, Bailey is said to be the first player to pitch consecutive no-hitters since Nolan Ryan in 1975. Only in baseball, can a player have over 9 months, and 16 starts in between games, and have them considered to being consecutive. What happens if he pitches another no-hitter before anyone else does? Is that a three-peat, or a trifecta?
The only pitcher that did in-fact pitch consecutive no-hitters was another Cincinnati Red, Johnny Vander Meer, back in 1938, and he was a rookie. Vander Meer did it in consecutive starts. I don’t want to take anything away from Bailey’s accomplishment, I just wanted to point out what baseball considers consecutive. Bailey only walked one batter in each of those starts, so he was just one walk away from pitching perfect games.
The strange thing about Bailey, besides that he goes by Homer, and his goal is to prevent batters from hitting them, is that after this game, he is only 5-6 this year. In fact, his career earned run average of 4.36 is the worst for any pitcher ever to throw multiple no-hitters. Bailey is now 43-39 for his career. Talk about a player being hot and cold.
Imagine if you were a Pittsburgh Pirates fan at that game on September 28, 2012. Not only did your team lose, but they went hitless. That’s the essence of a dull day at the ballpark. Sure it’s better when a pitcher has a no-hitter at home, but it still means that there was no hits by one of the teams. I’m not a big fan of a pitcher’s duel. I like to see hitting, and runs scored. If that it isn’t happening, you might as well go watch one of the many extremely boring scoreless ties in soccer. However, congratulations are in order for Homer Bailey on his accomplishment. He has pitched 2 no-hitters since anyone else has done it even once.
If you would like to have future commentaries sent to you, click on the link below, to take you to my website, then just enter your email address:
Sports With Frank Thomas
