Losing a no hitter in 8? Is it an official no hitter?

Question

If a pitcher threw a no hitter on the road and lost, is it considered a no hitter (pitching only 8 inning)? Is it fair to the losing pitcher?

Yes, you can lose a no hitter.
I mean, if you are pitching on the road and losing a no hitter 1-0 after 8 innings and your team fails to score in the top 9th, the game is over. Is it a no hitter even if he didn't pitch the 9th?

Answer 1

No way

Answer 2

A complete game can be 8 innings, ie if this is the visiting team's pitcher and the home team is ahead after the top of the 9th.

Andy Hawkins did this July 1, 1990. He lost the game on walks and an outfield error. It's in ESPN's list, but so is Melido Perez's rain-shorted 6 no-hit innings less than 2 weeks later, and MLB says 9 innings of more. It also says that to be credited with a no-hitter, the pitcher must have thrown every pitch for his team, from the first pitch through the last out, even if that last out is in extra innings. That's how Pedro Martinez was not credited for a perfect game in early June, 1995, despite having been perfect for 9 innings. The game ws in San Diego, and Bip Roberts took Martinez' first pitch of the 10th and hit it off the wall for a double.

Besides, if 8 no-hit innings was enough, Dave Steib would have 4 no-no's instad of one, David Cone would have 2 instead of one, and Nolan Ryan would have 11 or 12 instead of 7. I doubt that any one of those men could look themselves in the mirror if they accepts those extra kudos.

Answer 3

Around 1991 -- soon after the 1990 burst of no-hitters and certainly during Commissioner Vincent's tenure -- MLB convened a "Committee for Statistical Accuracy", which in short order defined that MLB required an official no-hitter to be nine innings or more, with zero safe hits. Now, the handful of lose-on-the-road, eight-inning no-hitters (or rain-shortened games) are still recorded by organizations like The Sporting News, but MLB doesn't acknowledge them; likewise any no-hitter broken up in extra innings isn't on the official list.

AFAIK, the committee has never done anything else ever again.

Here's a well-known, now "unofficial" no-hitter, Andy Hawkins in 1990: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1990/B07010CHA1990.htm

The White Sox had no hits, at home, but won 4-0. As far as MLB is concerned, Hawkins fell short of earning a true no-hitter. We know better.

Answer 4

OK, I better understand your question now. In the situation you describe (visiting team pitches no hitter but loses and therefore doesn't pitch in the bottom of the ninth) MLB would not call that a no-hitter. In the link below for the American League stats, scrolling down to the bottom you will see a box of no-nos that "do not meet criteria set forth by MLB." In that box you will see two no hitters that the pitcher lost AND they are not officially considered no hitters because the game was on the road and the visiting team did not pitch a ninth inning. It has happened twice -- 1990 and 1992. It hasn't happened yet in the National League.

Great question BTW.
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If no one gets a hit, then yes -- it is a no hitter.

MLB does not consider a game to be a no hitter if it goes less than nine innings. But, you can pitch a no-no and still lose the game.

The last, and only, time In the American League that a 9 inning no hitter was thrown and that team lost was in 1967 (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/pitching/pinohit1.shtml)

In the National League it has also only happened once, in 1964 (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/pitching/pinohit2.shtml)

Answer 5

No, it is not recognized as a no-hitter. The commissioner's office changed the rule in the early 1990s shortly after Matt Young of the Red Sox pitched an 8-innings-pitched "no-hitter" in a losing cause against the Indians.

Answer 6

Okay, the dude above me should be the one paying attention. If a pitcher on the road is pitching a no hitter, but losing the game, his team will go to bat in the ninth. If they don't score any runs, his team loses but he has indeed thrown a no hitter...

Its the same as if a pitcher threw a complete game on the road but lost. He only pitched eight innings but he pitches a complete game.

Answer 7

Yes, absolutely. The only determination for a no hitter was that you allowed no hits (duh) and it was a completed game.
The official record book has started taking out those that were complete games, but shortened by rain (like David Palmer's Expo perfect game that was only 5 innings).

However, if you pitch 8 and you don't have to pitch the bottom of the 9th because the home team already won. It's official.

To the people that don't think you can loose a no hitter, it's rare, but doable. I think Joe Cowley (CWS) tossed a no hitter but walked 7 guys. There are errors, hit batters, catcher's interference that can result in getting to first without affecting the no hitter as well.

Now, if you pitched a perfect game, you can't lose that. A perfect game, by definition, means no one got on base regardless of the method. If no one gets on base, no one scores, all you can have is a tie.

Answer 8

Assuming that you mean the starter pitched 8 no hit innings before being relieved and the reliever didn't give up a hit either, they were share the no-hitter. I am also assuming that his team lost the game by virtue either of walks, or fielding errors.

The way your question is worded almost suggests that he pitched a no-hitter up until the 8th inning and then gave up hits and runs to lose the game in which case it amounts to nothing more than a good outing ruined by a late collapse.

Answer 9

Your question doesn't make sense. Are you saying that someone pitches 8 innings of no hit baseball and then comes out for the 9th inning?

If you're on the road and your team is ahead, the home team gets their at bat in the 9th inning.

If you have thrown 8 innings of no hit baseball, there is no , manager in the league who would take you out for the 9th with a no hitter intact.

If you are throwing a no hitter and you come out and someone else gives up a hit, there is not a no hitter anymore

Lastly, how would you lose if you just threw a no hitter?

Think about your question a little bit more....

Answer 10

no it is not a no hitter if he didn't pitch the eighth. And, yes a pitcher who threw a no hitter can lose, unfortunately. Its actually happened in the past a few times.

Answer 11

No, it would not be a no hitter. Officialy it was changed in 1990 that it has to be a full nine innings to count. A pitcher can still lose a no hitter, but if he is the visiting team and only goes 8 it doesn't count. It sucks for the pitcher, but thats the official ruling of MLB. In my mind it still counts, but I'm not the official record keeper...