Arizona Diamondbacks pitchers Madison Bumgarner and Zac Gallen completely shut down the Atlanta Braves in a doubleheader on Sunday. In Game 1, Gallen threw seven scoreless innings and allowed just one hit in a 5-0 Arizona win. And Bumgarner topped that effort in Game 2.
Bumgarner threw a no-hitter over seven innings in Arizona’s 7-0 win to complete the doubleheader sweep. The only baserunner Bumgarner allowed was on an error by shortstop Nick Ahmed.
Seven innings, NO HITS.
MadBum tosses the first unofficial 7-inning no-no. pic.twitter.com/GceKxNOVaT
— MLB (@MLB) April 25, 2021
The Braves had one combined hit across their doubleheader today.
According to @EliasSports that's the fewest in a doubleheader in MLB history.
The previous fewest was two hits by Cleveland against the Red Sox on April 12, 1992. pic.twitter.com/sUrOAqRik2
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 25, 2021
However, the no-hitter doesn’t count as an official no-hitter due to only being seven innings (the length of doubleheader games) instead of nine.
IT COUNTS IN OUR BOOK.
MADISON BUMGARNER HAS THROWN A NO-HIT GAME! pic.twitter.com/nRHNWX0DVV
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) April 25, 2021
MADISON BUMGARNER!!!
It's not an official no-hitter, but that is QUITE the achivement!
He's the 1st pitcher to throw fewer than 9 IP in a hitless complete game since Devern Hansack on October 1, 2006 for the Red Sox against the O's
5 IP, 0 H
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) April 25, 2021
Madison Bumgarner is the first pitcher to allow 0 hits in a complete game shorter than 9 innings since Devern Hansack for the Red Sox in 2006 (only 5 innings).
The last pitcher to allow 0 hits in a complete game outing of exactly 7 innings was Sam "Toothpick" Jones in 1959. pic.twitter.com/wVQIVm5q6S
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 25, 2021
MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports that Major League Baseball and Elias are discussing whether or not it’s an official no-hitter.
MLB and Elias are still discussing whether a 7-inning no-hitter is an official no-hitter. MLB seems to be in favor but it’s still not decided officially. So congrats MadBum! (I think)
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) April 25, 2021
But it’s certainly understandable why it *wouldn’t* be counted as an official no-hitter; the challenge of getting 27 outs is much more difficult than getting 21 outs, and there have been plenty of no-hitters lost in the eighth and ninth innings.
Either way, it was an incredible performance by Bumgarner (a four-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion), who had performed horribly with Arizona entering this outing (7.16 ERA over 13 starts in 2020-21). Sunday’s version of Bumgarner is much more like the pitcher the Diamondbacks thought they were getting when they signed the southpaw to a five-year, $85 million deal ahead of the 2020 season.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.