Houston Chronicle

No-no? Yes!

Newcomer Fiers adds latest chapter to team’s amazing breakout season

- evan.drellich@chron.com twitter.com/evandrelli­ch

Mike Fiers’ no-hitter was the same performanc­e the Astros have collective­ly given all season, a rejection of expectatio­ns.

Any other team was supposed to be in first place in the American League West by now. Los Angeles Dodgers aces Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke were the pitchers the media wanted to know about Friday afternoon, and just how the Astros would hit them the next two days.

Fiers, a back-end pitcher in this rotation, was barely talked about at all, on Friday or any other day since the Astros swiped him from the Milwaukee Brewers as the secondary piece in the Carlos Gomez deal.

“I want to say I saw before the game there were a bunch of aces throwing tonight, and they had some big-time matchups,” said Jason Castro, who called all 134 pitches Fiers required.

Castro was right. There was Chris Sale vs. Felix Hernandez. David Price vs. Hector Santiago. Johnny Cueto, Justin Verlander and Madison Bumgarner were on the mound elsewhere.

“But the headline of the night was Fiers and his no-hitter, and that’s just a testament to the way this game is,” Castro said. “And you never know. Any given night, anything can happen.”

Fiers had never even gone nine innings in a major league game before. A 22nd-round draft pick of the Brewers in 2009, he not only shut down an opponent, he schooled one of the game’s jewel franchises that happens to be sporting a payroll close to $300 million — more than triple the cost of the Astros’ players.

The Dodgers’ lineup Friday just got another boost, with the arrival of Chase Utley from Philadelph­ia.

“Normally, being a pitcher just sitting there watching, you kind of know what you’re getting into, about three hours of just watching,” Fiers’ fellow starter Scott Feldman said. “I was sitting there, I was talking to Dallas (Keuchel), like two outs, like man, hearts pounding, just want him to pull it out so bad.”

Fiers said he knew all along he was working on a no-hitter, and expressed amazement that anybody might say otherwise in the same situation. Jake Marisnick, who caught the first two outs in the ninth inning in right field, wasn’t

quite as in tune.

“Snuck up on a lot of us,” Marisnick said. “A lot of us kind of looked around like the fifth, sixth inning: How about that?”

Sounds like the Astros’ season, doesn’t it?

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch have never helmed a winner before.

What the Astros have preached the entire year, and so many do in baseball, is consistenc­y. It’s clichéd, and on Friday, it was validated.

Chalk it up to baseball

A team can beat any pitcher on any day, Castro said before the game, so the trick is to try to do the same thing every day, more or less. That’s why the Astros weren’t worried after Tampa Bay’s Chris Archer wrecked them a night earlier.

“I mean baseball is such a game that I mean, on any given night, any lineup can beat any pitcher,” Castro said beforehand. “That’s just the reality of it.”

How right he was, and what a difference 24 hours made. Minute Maid park drew 15,000 more fans Friday than it did a night earlier, and the pitcher no one thought would throw a no-hitter on the team no one thought should contend dominated the best team, apparently, that money can buy.

Even Fiers’ pitch count was unlikely.

He had 73 throws through four innings, a sign his night wouldn’t last long.

“He was as effective in the last couple innings as he was at any time throughout the game,” Hinch said. “You look at the seventh and eighth innings, he’s got five punchouts in a row with pretty electric stuff.

“He earned every opportunit­y to finish that.”

Emotions run high

Fiers, despite not throwing much above 90 mph typically, has always had good strikeout ability — and the Astros recognized that when they traded for him.

“It’s emotional for our guys,” Hinch said. “We’re thrilled with the outcome. Any time (there’s) a huge accomplish­ment like this, (it) resonates one through 25 through our coaching staff, through the fans, our organizati­on. The fans were loud at the very end. It’s a great energy boost in August when things are starting to heat up the most.

“So, where it fits in (to our story)? We got to finish the season before we can accurately place it. There’s a lot of proud guys in there for Mike and for our club. Hopefully, that’s good energy for the rest of the series and next week on the road.”

Hinch’s emotions in the final inning were excitement.

“You fight so hard to get to that point, you want him to finish it,” Hinch said. “Obviously, he’s walking into a territory that he’s never been in, and there’s so many people that are rooting for him to finish strong.”

That’s how so many feel about the final six weeks of the Astros season.

 ?? Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ?? Astros righthande­r Mike Fiers was the man of the hour Friday night after going the distance for a no-hitter against the Dodgers at Minute Maid Park. It was the Astros’ 11th no-hitter and the fifth thrown in MLB this season.
Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle Astros righthande­r Mike Fiers was the man of the hour Friday night after going the distance for a no-hitter against the Dodgers at Minute Maid Park. It was the Astros’ 11th no-hitter and the fifth thrown in MLB this season.
 ?? EVAN DRELLICH ??
EVAN DRELLICH
 ?? Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ?? Astros starting pitcher Mike Fiers received a big congratula­tions Friday night after tossing his first no-hitter and the first at Minute Maid Park in a 3-0 win over the Dodgers.
Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle Astros starting pitcher Mike Fiers received a big congratula­tions Friday night after tossing his first no-hitter and the first at Minute Maid Park in a 3-0 win over the Dodgers.
 ??  ?? Mike Fiers, center, earns a shower of talcum powder and a water courtesy of his teammates following his nohitter against the Dodgers.
Mike Fiers, center, earns a shower of talcum powder and a water courtesy of his teammates following his nohitter against the Dodgers.
 ?? Karen Warren photos / Houston Chronicle ?? Jose Altuve parades around with a souvenir — Mike Fiers’ jersey — following Fiers’ pitching feat.
Karen Warren photos / Houston Chronicle Jose Altuve parades around with a souvenir — Mike Fiers’ jersey — following Fiers’ pitching feat.
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