Major League Baseball has its third no-hitter of 2014, and this time, it was not a Los Angeles Dodger who threw it. It was a San Francisco Giant — more specifically, Tim Lincecum.
#SFGiants @timlincecum tossed his 2nd career no-hitter and the 16th in franchise history, tied for the 4th-most all-time among teams.
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) June 25, 2014
MLB.com’s Chris Haft reports that Lincecum has thrown his second career no-hitter, turning the trick in front of the home crowd against the San Diego Padres. Lincecum walked one and struck out six while facing one batter above the minimum. Only Chase Headley reached base with a one-out walk in the second inning, but the Padres failed to advance him. Lincecum got Will Venable to ground out to second baseman Joe Panik to end the game. See the final out and the celebration here.
This one looked easy because there were no spectacular catches that saved the day. Few balls even had a chance for a base hit. Seth Smith hit a hard ground ball right at first baseman Buster Posey in the fourth, but that was the closest the Padres came to a base hit.
This was the second career no-hitter for Lincecum, and they have both come against the Padres. Last July 13, Lincecum blanked the Padres in San Diego, so he now has one against them in two consecutive years, one in each ball park.
This is the third no-hitter of 2014. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Josh Beckett threw one on May 25 and his teammate, Clayton Kershaw, came within one wild throw of a perfect game on June 18. This puts Major League Baseball on pace to approach or even surpass the record of seven no-hitters set in 1990. In that season, Dave Stieb, Terry Mulholland, Fernando Valenzuela, Dave Stewart, Nolan Ryan, and Randy Johnson all threw no-hitters by themselves, and Mark Langston combined with Mike Witt on April 11.
In addition, Andy Hawkins and Melido Perez threw shortened complete games allowing no hits in 1990, but MLB rules no longer recognize them as no-hitters. Hawkins pitched eight innings and lost 4-0 thanks to four Yankee errors; Perez pitched six innings in a rain-shortened contest. The two pitchers do get credit for complete games but not no-hitters.
It is doubtful that we will see four more no-hitters this year, but with the surge of them in recent years, it would not come as much of a surprise.
Congratulations to Tim Lincecum on his second career no-hitter.
PHOTO CREDIT: mickey_moe, www.fanpop.com
