The
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...
(formerly known as the ''Houston Colt .45s'' from 1962–1964) are a
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
franchise based in
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
. Formed in 1962, they play in the
American League West
The American League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. The division has five teams as of the 2013 season, but had four teams from 1994 to 2012, and had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. Although its teams curr ...
division (formerly in the
National League Central division until 2012). Pitchers for the Astros have thrown fifteen
no-hitter
In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...
s in franchise history, the most of all of MLB's expansion teams added since 1961. A no-hitter is officially recognized by Major League Baseball only "when a
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
(or pitchers) allows no hits during the entire course of a game, which consists of at least nine innings", though one or more
batters "may reach base via a walk, an error, a hit by pitch, a passed ball or wild pitch on strike three, or catcher's interference".
No-hitters of less than nine complete innings were previously recognized by the league as official; however, several rule alterations in 1991 changed the rule to its current form.
No
perfect games, a special subcategory of no-hitter, have been thrown in Astros history.
As defined by Major League Baseball, "in a perfect game, no batter reaches any base during the course of the game."
Don Nottebart
Donald Edward Nottebart (January 23, 1936 – October 4, 2007) was an American professional baseball player. The right-handed pitcher appeared in 296 games in Major League Baseball for five teams over nine seasons (1960–1967; 1969). Notteb ...
threw the first no-hitter in Astros history on May 17, 1963; the most recent no-hitter was a combined one thrown by
Cristian Javier
Cristian Javier (born March 26, 1997) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). Javier signed with the Astros as an international free agent in 2015 and made his MLB debut in 2020. During t ...
,
Bryan Abreu
Bryan Enrique Abreu (born April 22, 1997) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). Abreu signed with the Astros as an international free agent in 2013, and made his major league debut in 2 ...
,
Rafael Montero, and
Ryan Pressly
Thomas Ryan Pressly (born December 15, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has also played in MLB for the Minnesota Twins.
Originally selected by the Boston Red Sox in the ...
on November 2, 2022. No left-handed starting pitchers have thrown no-hitters in franchise history. The longest interval between no-hitters was 12 years, 2 months and 10 days from the combined no-hitter led by
Roy Oswalt on June 11, 2003, and that thrown by Fiers on August 21, 2015. The shortest interval was just 29 days from the combined no-hitter led by
Sanchez on August 3, 2019, and
Verlander's no-hitter on September 1. They no-hit the
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
, the
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
, and the
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...
the most, which occurred twice. There are three no-hitters in which the team allowed at least a run, by Nottebart in 1963, Johnson in 1964 (which was a 9-inning home loss), and Kile in 1993. The most baserunners allowed in a no-hitter was by Wilson (in 1969), who allowed eight. Ten no-hitters were thrown at home, and five on the road. The Astros have thrown two no-hitters in April, two in May, three in June, one in July, two in August, four in September, and one in November. Of the fifteen no-hitters, three have been won by a score of 2–0, more common than any other result. The largest margin of victory in a no-hitter was an 8–0 combined effort led by Oswalt in 2003. The smallest margin of victory was 2–0 wins by Wilson in 1967,
Mike Scott in 1986, and Verlander in 2019.
The
umpire
An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection.
The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...
is also an integral part of any no-hitter. The task of the umpire in a baseball game is to make any decision “which involves judgment, such as, but not limited to, whether a batted ball is fair or foul, whether a pitch is a strike or a ball, or whether a runner is safe or out…
he umpire’s judgment on such matters
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
is final.”
Part of the duties of the umpire making calls at home plate includes defining the
strike zone, which "is defined as that area over
homeplate ''(sic)'' the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the hollow beneath the kneecap."
These calls define every baseball game and are therefore integral to the completion of any no-hitter.
A different umpire presided over each of the franchise’s fifteen no-hitters.
The
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
is another integral part of any no-hitter. The tasks of the manager include determining the starting rotation as well as batting order and defensive lineup every game. Eight different managers have involved in the franchise’s fifteen no-hitters.
List of no-hitters in Astros history
See also
*
List of Major League Baseball no-hitters
Below is a list of Major League Baseball no-hitters, enumerating every no-hitter pitched in Major League Baseball history. In addition, all no-hitters that were broken up in extra innings or were in shortened games are listed, although they are no ...
References
{{Houston Astros
No-hitters
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...