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The last time the Yankees were no-hit was all the way back in 2003, at the hands of the Astros. Roy Oswalt, Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner pieced together nine innings, striking out 13 batters in Pinstripes and walking three.
Almost 20 years later, and the Astros have done it once more at Yankee Stadium. Saturday’s game wasn’t quite the same piecemeal game thanks to a Herculean 13 strikeout effort by Cristian Javier, but he still needed some help after 115 pitches through seven innings, to secure the 3–0, no-hit victory.
After Javier surrendered just one first-inning walk, things got dicey for Houston in the bottom of the eighth. Hector Neris walked Aaron Hicks and D.J. LeMahieu in two of the innings first three at-bats, but got Joey Gallo and Aaron Judge out to close the inning.
In the ninth, Ryan Pressly made quick work of New York, striking out Anthony Rizzo and Josh Donaldson and forcing Giancarlo Stanton into a groundout to secure the historic outing.
New York had its own impressive outing, with Gerrit Cole surrendering just four hits and one earned run through seven innings, striking out eight, but the Astros bats were able to do just enough damage. J.J. Matijevic hit a solo home run to open scoring for Houston in the top of the seventh, José Altuve homered in the eighth, and Yuli Gurriel added some insurance with an RBI single in the ninth.
Today’s no-hitter was the 14th in franchise history, with three coming on combined efforts. The last came on Sept. 1, 2019, when Justin Verlander shut down the Blue Jays in a 2–0 win.
With the win, Houston moves to 45–26, building on its double-digit game lead in the AL Central. The Yankees fall to 52–20, but maintain the best record in the majors.
