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Last night was the seventh time in franchise history the D-backs failed to get a hit against the opposing starter. Three of those times were the full no-hitters, thrown by Jose Jimenez, Anibal Sanchez and Edinson Volquez [I think we should maybe just forfeit any games where the opposing pitcher’s name ends in -ez...] The other three previous occasions were all games where the starter had an abbreviated outing, going at most one inning. So yesterday was the first time in franchise history where the starting pitcher no-hit the Diamondbacks, while going more than one inning, but less than nine. Pitch-count was the obvious reason: Lyles’ 99 pitches was actually one more than Volquez needed for his complete no-hitter.
The first time it happened was kinda interesting, not least because it was the only time we were no-hit by the starter and WON. The opposing pitcher in that game, on June 7, 1998, was also current radio color commentator, knuckleballer Tom Candiotti. He took the loss despite allowing no hits. In this case, Candiotti left the game after a lead-off walk in the second inning, following a 1-2-3 first. I’m not sure why, as he made his scheduled next start, five days later. Anyway, the relief pitcher promptly allowed a two-run homer to David Dellucci, and the D-backs went on to win 12-4, tagging Tom with the L.
That’s more common than you might think: it has happened a dozen times since, the most recent example be Kevin Gausman of Baltimore, on May 3, 2017. In the majority of these cases, they were similarly abbreviated starts. But there have been exceptions. On July 20, 2013, Erik Bedard took a no-hitter into the seventh inning for Houston against Seattle, and still lost, thanks to three runs allowed. They were the result of two walks, two passed balls, a sacrifice fly and an inherited runner allowed to score. The D-backs have never had one; two starters have taken the loss in one-hit starts. Trevor Bauer had three such innings in 2012, but Micah Owings holds the record with 5.2 one-hit innings in 2008.