The last two major league no-hitters now belong to Homer Bailey.The Cincinnati Reds' right-hander, who threw Major League Baseball's last no-hitter on September 28, 2012, pitched another one Tuesday night when he allowed just one baserunner in dominating the San Francisco Giants at Great American Ball Park.
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The Reds won the game, 3-0.
Bailey was perfect until issuing a lead-off walk to San Francisco's Gregor Blanco in the seventh inning. Later in the inning, Reds first baseman Joey Votto fielded a groundball and, with first base uncovered, threw to
third base for a fielder's choice of Blanco to keep the no-hit bid alive. Bailey followed up with a 1-2-3 eighth inning.
The 27-year-old Bailey struck out nine and threw just 109 pitches in improving his record to 5-6.
BOX SCORE: Reds 3, Giants 0
He's just the fourth active pitcher - along with Roy Halladay, Justin Verlander and Mark Buehrle - with two no-hitters.
"Every dog gets his day twice, I guess," Bailey said in a postgame TV interview.
He said after surviving the seventh inning, he thought, "Why the hell not?"
And so he rolled through the eighth and ninth, retiring Blanco on a grounder to third to end it.
The last pitcher to throw baseball's two most recent no-hitters was Nolan Ryan during the 1974 and 1975 seasons. Bailey's no-hitter came against the Pittsburgh Pirates after he allowed just one walk. After last season tied a record with seven no-hitters across MLB, there had yet to be one this season.
Cincinnati has 15 all-time no-hitters, though Bailey's 2012 feat was the first one since Tom Browning did it in 1988. San Francisco, which has struggled to manufacture runs this season after winning the World Series last year, has been no-hit three times in franchise history.
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