It appears that this might yet again be the year of the pitcher, or in the Seattle Mariners' case, pitchers.
Kevin Millwood and the Mariners' bullpen did something that had only been done nine times before Friday night in MLB history.
Millwood removed himself from the game due to a groin injury after the sixth inning, but the rest of the staff took the reigns and continued to shut down the Los Angeles Dodgers en route to a 1-0 victory.
Charlie Furbush pitched to two batters and struck out one of them. Stephen Pryor, who was credited with the win, recorded one out but walked two batters before leaving Lucas Luetge to record another out.
Then Brandon League took the mound with runners on second and third. He was able to pitch out of the jam with a looping out to left field and a strikeout to end the eighth inning.
Tom Wilhelmsen recorded the save in the no-hitter in a one-two-three ninth inning. Dee Gordon made the first out of the inning on a slow grounder to shortstop Brendan Ryan. It was a play that could have been called either way, but on this night, the Mariners got the call.
Don Mattingly and Gordon argued the call but to no avail. Multiple angles showed that the play could have gone either way.
There are very few no-hitters without controversy, and this one will have this play as the source of controversy.
Millwood struck out six batters in his six innings of work before leaving the game to the bullpen.
It is the Mariners' third no-hitter in franchise history and the first combined no-no. The no-hitter comes just one week after Johan Santana threw his no-hitter for the Mets.
According to the SportingNews.com, the most no-hitters in one season occurred in 1990 and 1991 when there were seven in each season.
How many more no-no's might we see before this season is over?
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