Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle tossed his first of two no-hitters, 11 years ago today.
On Wednesday, April 18, 2007, Buehrle no-hit the Texas Rangers for a 6-0 victory at U.S. Cellular Field. Buehrle struck out eight and issued just one walk to Sammy Sosa in the fifth inning, quickly picking him off first base.
The game featured several close calls. In the second inning, Jermaine Dye snagged a deep fly by Hank Blalock that appeared destined to clear the fence by about a foot.
In the third inning, Jerry Hairston lined a ball over the third base bag that easily could have been a double, but Joe Crede made a diving play and threw to first for the out. Hairston may have beaten the throw with his head-first slide, but this was in the day before replay and his argument only resulted in his ejection.
Blalock again nearly reached base in the fifth with a grounder between first and second, but second baseman Tadahito Iguchi made a nice diving stop.
Nelson Cruz could have reached base on a Buehrle strikeout with one out in the ninth inning had he noticed sooner that A.J. Pierzynski dropped the ball, but Cruz’s delay allowed the easy 2-3 putout before Gerald Laird grounded out to third for the final out.
Buehrle would go on to record his second no-hitter about two years later. On Thursday, July 23, 2009, Buehrle pitched a 5-0 perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays at home.
