Mike Fiers twirls second no-hitter and 300th in MLB history

There are plenty of reasons to love the 300th no-hitter in MLB history. The location, Mike Fiers, and the pitch count is just the half of it.

A no-hitter is one of the rare feats in Major League Baseball. Some players are lucky to get one, and even some of the greatest pitchers go their whole career without one.

Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, and even Steve Carlton have never tossed a complete gem. Mike Fiers has now accomplished it twice.

While most of the country was fast asleep (2:15 AM EDT), Fiers was striking out Eugenio Suarez to complete his second career no-hitter, and the first no-hitter of the 2019 season.

There was everything to root for with this no-hitter. So let’s start with the individual.

As already mentioned, Fiers is no stranger to this piece of history. He collected his first no-no back in 2015 when he was with the Houston Astros.

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Fiers is a journeyman, never been an all-star, but has been a valuable commodity come the later months as a postseason push pickup for both the Astros and the A’s.

How can we connect his two performances? In more ways than you think.

Firstly, the way it ended. Both of Fiers’ gems ended with him striking out the final batter; both swinging, and both the teams’ third basemen.

Justin Turner was the victim then, Suarez was the victim now.

Also the pitch count was a big number to latch to. Last night Fiers threw 131 pitches as part of a six strikeout and two walk final linescore. The last pitcher to throw more than 130 pitches in a no-hit performance? It was Fiers; when he threw 134 against LA.

Fiers is now the 30th pitcher in history to tally two no-hitters in his career.

For the second year in a row, the Oakland Athletics have sent pitchers that have thrown the season’s first no-no, with Sean Manaea throwing one against the Red Sox last season.

Finally, what is a no-hitter or a great pitching performance without some spectacular defensive highlights? Oakland’s defense provided Fiers with not one but two spectacular plays; on back-to-back outs! First, it was Jurickson Profar towards the right field line, followed by the early gold-glove candidate Ramon Laureano in centerfield.

This performance was one for the annals for certain, but hopefully the next one will occur when more than 75% of the country is awake to watch it.