Diamondbacks’ Madison Bumgarner throws unofficial no-hitter in condensed 7-inning game vs. Braves
Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Madison Bumgarner smiled and laughed as his teammates mobbed him. It was a rare display of joy for a pitcher whose past year-plus largely has been defined by disappointment.
Bumgarner threw seven innings of no-hit ball in a seven-inning game against the Atlanta Braves, which the Diamondbacks won, 7-0, to complete a doubleheader sweep on Sunday afternoon. Per baseball’s official statistician, it does not count as a true no-hitter. Bumgarner did not seem to share that opinion.
“I mean, I don’t know, I didn’t give up any hits today,” Bumgarner said. “I’m not in control of how many innings we’re playing.”
Bumgarner appeared to be in control of everything else. Most no-hitters are adorned with great defensive plays and dramatic close calls. This one had no such accoutrements. Bumgarner pounded strikes, mixed his pitches and overwhelmed Braves hitters.
Since the start of last season, doubleheaders have featured two seven-inning games, a change made in hopes of keeping players healthy while playing through a pandemic.
Last year, Elias Sports Bureau, baseball’s official stat keepers, tried to ward off potential confusion by clarifying that a no-hitter thrown in a seven-inning game would not count. It cited a ruling made in 1991 by a special committee convened by MLB and chaired by then-commissioner Fay Vincent.
The committee determined that in order to be credited with a no-hitter “a pitcher or pitchers had to pitch a complete game of nine innings or more without allowing a hit.” A game with fewer than nine would be deemed a “notable achievement” in The Elias Book of Baseball Records. There were no indications on Sunday that either Elias or MLB intended to reconsider the ruling.
Bumgarner’s outing is the first time this interpretation has been tested since the doubleheader rules went into effect last season. But he is far from the first pitcher or team to be affected by the nine-inning requirement.
According to Elias, prior to Sunday there had been 41 instances of individual pitchers or pitching staffs tossing unofficial no-hitters: seven in eight-inning games, 10 in seven innings, nine in six innings and 15 in five innings.
Bumgarner’s performance marks the 42nd “notable achievement” — not that anyone with the Diamondbacks appeared to be viewing it that way.
“Still a no-hitter,” Diamondbacks catcher Carson Kelly said. “Today, we came in knowing it was a seven-inning game. That’s what we were told, and we gave up no hits in seven innings. That’s how I’m going to look at it.”
Said manager Torey Lovullo: “It’s a no-hitter to me. And it will be forever. I don’t know what the rulebook is going to say and I don’t know if Major League Baseball is going to recognize it. But for what’s going on in that room right now, for the special feeling that Madison gave us today, it was a no-hitter.”
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Since joining the Diamondbacks on a five-year, $85 million deal two years ago, Bumgarner has made 14 starts. Perhaps what stood out most about his performance Sunday was in how different it felt from most of the previous 13.
