The Toronto Blue Jays were no match for Justin Verlander Saturday afternoon, as the Detroit Tigers righty tossed his second career no-hitter and the second of the 2011 season for a 9-0 victory.
Minnesota Twins lefty Francisco Liriano pitched a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox Tuesday evening for the first one of the season. His was not as pretty.
In fact, Verlander was just five outs away from a perfect game when rookie J.P. Arencibia (good eye) walked on a 12th-pitch full count with one out in the eighth. Tough break.
Verlander's first no-hitter, which came on June 12, 2007, was chock-full of whiffs, with the hurler fanning 12 Milwaukee Brewers. This time, he struck out four Jose Bautista-less Blue Jays on 108 pitches, including Rajai Davis to end the game.
The 28-year-old became the 30th guy in big league history to throw multiple no-no's, with his being the 249th ever. It's been a long time coming for Tigers fans, who last enjoyed the excitement back in 1984, when Jack Morris no-hit the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park on April 7 for the sixth Tigers no-hitter.
Verlander, whose career ERA was 6.68 over five lifetime games against the Jays heading into Saturday's contest, had this to say regarding his feat:
"I felt like tonight I had really good control of my fastball, and I just used that to my advantage. My breaking ball was surprisingly my worst pitch. That’s probably indicative of why I didn’t have many strikeouts. I was just able to move the ball around and keep guys off balance and get some quick outs."
[Detroit Free Press]
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