On Saturday, June 11, 1938, 82 years ago today, the Cincinnati Reds’ Johnny Vander Meer no-hit the Boston Bees at home at Crosley Field. Four days later, he would no-hit the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field to become the only major-league pitcher to throw back-to-back no-nos.
Repeating a series of posts we launched back in 2016, we’re using these the days between Vandeer Meer’s starts to account for the other six times that major-league pitchers have had back-to-back starts with no-hits. None of these outings went nine innings, but Mike Moore, Frank MacCormack, Gary Gentry, Les Cain, Sandy Koufax and Rex Barney all threw back-to-back no-hit starts. The details of those starts generated using http://www.baseball-reference.com‘s superb Play Index are below, and we’ll take a closer look at one each day starting with the most recent:
No. 1: Mike Moore

Mike Moore
Seattle Mariners starter Mike Moore retired the first four Baltimore Orioles he faced during his start at Memorial Stadium on May 30, 1985. But when he walked Fred Lynn with one out in the second inning, he had to leave the game with a groin injury.
Moore returned to the mound on June 4 and made it through the first inning of his start against the Detroit Tigers with just a base on balls, but when he walked Lance Parrish and Darrell Evans to begin the second, Mariners manager Chuck Cottier pulled him and gave the ball to reliever Salome Barojas.
Moore didn’t allow a hit in either outing.
Name | Game 1 | Game 2 | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA | HBP | WP | TM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mike Moore | 1985-05-30 | 1985-06-04 | 2.1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7.71 | 0 | 0 | SEA |
Frank MacCormack | 1976-07-26 | 1977-04-24 | 3.1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 8.10 | 2 | 4 | DET-SEA |
Gary Gentry | 1973-06-05 | 1973-06-10 | 3.0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3.00 | 0 | 0 | ATL |
Les Cain | 1972-05-24 | 1972-05-28 | 5.1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6.75 | 0 | 0 | DET |
Sandy Koufax | 1958-07-05 | 1958-07-18 | 2.1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3.86 | 0 | 0 | LAD |
Rex Barney | 1943-09-25 | 1943-09-28 | 2.1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 7.71 | 0 | 0 | BRO |