Astros toss a combined no-hitter in Sanchez debut
Aaron Sanchez looked like a reinvented pitcher in his Houston debut, throwing six stellar innings to start the Astros on a combined no-hitter Saturday night in their 9-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
Sanchez was an All-Star in 2016 and led the American League in ERA, but he's struggled badly this season and had lost 13 straight decisions to lead the majors with 14 losses. Three days after he was acquired from Toronto at the trade deadline, the 27-year-old right-hander teamed with Will Harris, Joe Biagini and Chris Devenski to shut down Seattle.
“Just trying to have a good first impression,” Sanchez said.
It was the second time in less than a month the lastplace Mariners were no-hit by multiple pitchers. The Los Angeles Angels used two pitchers in a combined no-hitter July 12 against Seattle on a night when they honored late left-hander Tyler Skaggs by all wearing his No. 45 in their first home game since his death.
After throwing 92 pitches, Sanchez (4-14) was replaced by Harris to start the seventh.
Sanchez kept the Mariners off balance with a steady stream of fastballs in the lowto-mid 90s (mph) coupled with slow curveballs that often froze batters for strikes as he worked with veteran catcher Martin Maldonado, picked up by Houston in a trade with the Chicago Cubs earlier in the week.
Harris and Joe Biagini, also obtained from the Blue Jays in the same deal that netted Sanchez, each worked one inning before Devenski tossed a perfect ninth. He retired AllStar slugger Daniel Vogelbach on a routine fly for the final out, setting off an Astros celebration on the field after the club's 12th no-hitter.
Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, who threw one of his record seven no-hitters for Houston, was at Minute Maid Park to see this one.
“This is awesome,” Sanchez said, adding: “You can't write it up any better than this.”
Sanchez struck out six, walked two and hit a batter with a pitch in his first victory since April 27 for Toronto. He had been winless in 17 consecutive starts.
Houston manager AJ Hinch patted Sanchez on the chest after he finished the sixth, and pitching coach Brent Strom offered a hearty handshake.
The Astros have an impressive history of improving the performance of pitchers they acquire, and Hinch was asked recently what they would do to help Sanchez get back on track.
“We don't have magic dust,” Hinch said. “There's a lot of people in the organization that go to work to try to find the one thing that can unlock people's potential.”
fielded it and tossed it to Sanchez, who dashed to first base just in front of Court for the third out.
HAMELS SHARP IN RETURN FROM IL
Cole Hamels pitched five shutout innings after spending five weeks on the injured list, Albert Almora Jr. hit a tiebreaking home run and the Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-1 on Saturday.
The Cubs lost All-Star catcher Willson Contreras to an apparent hamstring injury. There was no immediate word on the severity of the setback.
Out since June 28 because of a strained left oblique, Hamels allowed four singles, walked none and struck out six.
The four-time All Star picked up where he left off before his injury. In five starts before getting hurt in a game at Cincinnati, the 35-year-old lefty pitched at least seven innings and was 2-1 with a 1.00 ERA.
Almora hit a solo homer in the seventh off reliever Junior Guerra (3-3) into the Wrigley Field basket just inside the leftfield foul pole for a 2-1 lead.
RED BULLS 2, TORONTO FC 0
Kemar Lawrence scored his first goal of the season and Luis Robles had three saves to help the Red Bulls beat Toronto, 2-0, on Saturday night in Harrison.
Alejandro Romero Gamarra also scored for the Red Bulls (10-9-4). Toronto dropped to 9-10-5.