6 Abraham Toro, 43 percent
What people are most likely to recall about Houston’s 2-0 Sunday victory over Toronto was that Astros pitcher Justin Verlander threw his third no-hitter.
But don’t overlook the fact that Toro’s hit made Verlander’s no-hitter possible.
Despite Verlander’s stifling pitching, the Astros entered the ninth inning locked in a scoreless tie, having failed to dent three Jays pitchers for anything more significant than three base hits. Toro, Houston’s rookie third baseman, was hitless in three tries with two whiffs.
Under major league scoring rules, even if Verlander completed the ninth without allowing a hit, he would not be credited with a no-hitter unless the Astros scored at least one run.
That fact ratcheted up the tension beyond normal levels as the fourth Jays pitcher, closer Ken Giles, took the mound to start the ninth. Alex Bregman began the inning with a solid double, but Giles recovered to strike out Yordan Alvarez and retired Aledmys Diaz on a fly ball. That left the issue up to Toro.
As he stood in, the chances of an Astro win stood at 48 percent. But with a 1-1 count, Giles left a pitch up where Toro could get it, and he drove it deep into the left field seats for a two-run bomb.
The hit not only flipped the odds of an Astro win to 91 percent, it opened the door for Verlander to complete his no-hitter in the bottom of the ninth. He did so by sandwiching two ground balls around a strikeout.