The Padres no no-hitters count is moving again.
With that Evan Longoria 1st-inning single off Eric Lauer, the Padres have now played 7,977 regular-season games without a no-hitter. That’s just 42 games shy of the New York Mets’ mark of 8,019 regular-season games, halted when Johan Santana no-hit the Cardinals in 2012.
If a Padres’ starter or tandem can’t accomplish the feat before mid-May, the Padres will take over the record of the longest no no-hitters streak since a franchise’s inception.
The Padres’ best chance for an Opening Day no-no came on April 9, 1990, when Bruce Hurst took a bid into the seventh before the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Hubie Brooks led off the inning with a single to center. Hurst gave up four earned runs in the 4-2 loss, as the no no-hitter count advanced to 3,341 games. The second deepest effort was from Randy Jones, who took an April 9, 1976, bid into the sixth before Atlanta Braves’ pinch-hitter Cito Gaston dropped a one-out single into center field. Jones finished with a five-hit complete-game 8-2 win, and the no no-hitter count advanced to 1,125 games.
Here’s the breakdown of the Padres’ Opening Day no-hitter attempts: 1 broken up in the 7th, 1 in the 6th, 1 in the 5th, 2 in the 4th, 7 in the 3rd, 12 in the 2nd and 27 in the first (15 of those on the leadoff batter). #FriarFaithful
Althout the Friars are drawing dangerously close to the Mets’ mark, the team has a long way to go to reach the longest-ever no-hit streak, a mark held by the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies were void of a no-hitter for 58 years, 1 month, 18 days between 1906 and 1964. The 8,945-game-long streak (plus nine post-season games) began on May 3, 1906, one game after Phillies’ southpaw Johnny Lush threw a 6-0 no-hitter against the Brooklyn Superbas. It ended on June 21, 1964, when Jim Bunning threw a 6-0 perfect game against the Mets during a Father’s Day doubleheader at Shea.
