No-no-no-no-no! Five Mets pitchers combine to no-hit Phillies
NEW YORK — Tylor Megill and the New York Mets bullpen kept throwing and throwing, the crowd growing louder with every toss.
A 159-pitch gem, it was. Megill and four relievers combined on the first no-hitter of the Major League Baseball season, teaming up to lead the Mets over the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0 Friday night.
“Just a really fun team moment,” said Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, who homered. “This is one of my all-time highlights, because, like, how often do you see a no-hitter? It’s like seeing a white buffalo or a unicorn.”
Megill started and was pulled after five innings and 88 pitches. The bullpen took over from there, with Drew Smith, Joely Rodriguez, Seth Lugo and Edwin Diaz completing the second no-hitter in Mets history.
Johan Santana threw the Mets’ only previous no-hitter on June 1, 2012, when he struck out eight and needed 134 pitches in an 8-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. This was the Mets’ 9,588th game, including postseason, since becoming an expansion team in 1962.
Per Baseball-Reference.com, these 159 pitches were the most thrown in a no-hitter. Six Houston Astros pitchers threw 151 pitches in their no-hitter against the Yankees in 2003.
“Team game,” Megill said. “I’m ecstatic. It’s crazy. First one I’ve been part of.”
All the relievers before Diaz said they didn’t know they were working on a combined no-hitter. Rodriguez said he was getting treatment in the ninth inning when he realized what was happening.
“Ninth inning, one out, I checked the TV and said ‘What? Zero?’” Rodriguez said as McCann exchanged a fist bump with Diaz on a podium in the Mets’ interview room. “I said, ‘Hey, give me five minutes, I have to go out.’”
With the crowd of 32,416 standing and chanting “Let’s go, Mets,” Diaz finished it off in style, striking out Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos and J.T. Realmuto in the ninth — all of them swinging.
“You start paying attention about the sixth, seventh inning — you start hearing the crowd getting into it, realizing there’s a chance for something special,” catcher James McCann said.
“Especially with multiple guys. If it’s with one guy, you’re on the same page all night. But trying to get on the same page with a lot of guys, it’s definitely special to be able to share it with so many people,“he said.
Mets pitchers combined to fan 12 and walk six, including Kyle Schwarber three times. He stole second base in the fifth — the only time a Phillies player got beyond first base.
“We hit a couple balls hard but that was about it,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said. “(Megill) threw about 45 pitches (actually 43) in the first two innings, it looked like maybe we could get him on the ropes. But we just never did.”
Mets center fielder Brandon Nimmo made the best defensive play, running to make a diving catch on Jean Segura’s sinking liner in right-center to end the third.