2021 No. 5 ranked no-hitter: Wade Miley vs. Cleveland Indians, May 7
Our next two no-hitters have one thing in common: they were both thrown against the Cleveland Indians. Having a common opponent is nice. It gives a little commonality, so we can decisively say that Wade Miley of the Reds twirled the fifth-best no-hitter of 2021.
How can you say anything decisively? It was a no-hitter! You might ask, then exclaim.
This is how.
Miley faced 29 batters out of the minimum of 27. He threw 16 first-pitch strikes.
One batter, Cesar Hernandez, managed to take a walk — and he has an on-base percentage under .300.
Clearly, that makes all the difference under our completely scientific and definitely not arbitrary system of rules.
It was, of course, a great game pitched by Miley. He pitched a no-hitter. Of course it was great.
He struck out eight and got out the first 16 batters he faced to take a perfect game into the the sixth inning.
To give Miley a few bonus points, this game could have actually been in doubt. With a 3-0 score, Miley got some of the worst run support of any no-hitter thrown during the first two months of the year.
And you gotta admit, a .609 win-probability added (per FanGraphs) is pretty impressive.