Major League Baseball’s regular season in 2021 turned three days old on Saturday, but Jose Berrios and Corbin Burnes may have recorded the tournament of the year as part of the Minnesota Twins’ 2-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. In six innings, the pair combined 23 runs, zero strokes, zero runs and two strokes.
Although Berrios was not allowed to start the seventh inning after throwing 84 spots over the first six frames, the twins were able to come out of a joint no-hitter within five after Taylor Rogers hit the side in the seventh. Omar Narvaez then singled out Tyler Duffey to end the bid with one out in the eighth.
Nevertheless, Berrios ended his night after hitting 12 of the 19 batsmen he faced. He collected 18 whales on 36 swings, with nine of those coming against his distinctive curveball. He even limited the quality of contact the Brewers made to the extent that Milwaukee’s batted balls had an average exit speed of 78.1 mph; as a reference, the worst exit speed among qualified hitters last season was 82.2 km / h. Berrios’ outing was a huge success, and a welcome sign to a disappointing 2020 that saw him have his worst ERA and his worst running-running relationship since his rookie season.
If Berrios and the twins had completed the attempt to fail, it would have been their first in almost a decade. Francisco Liriano had earlier committed the act against the Chicago White Sox in May 2011. The Twins have had seven non-hits in franchise history since the 1970s, but only two others: one thrown by Scott Erickson in 1994, and one by Eric Milton in 1999.
Berrios and Burnes became the first set of pitchers to be unscathed after the sixth inning since Jake Peavy and Jacob deGrom did so in August 2014, according to the Bally Sports broadcast. They are also the first set of pitchers in the modern era that allowed more than ten hits and one or fewer hits in the same game. per STATS.
Burnes lost his non-heater against his last batter of the night, when Byron Buxton hit a home link to right midfield. Overall, Burnes completed 6 1/3 overs, hitting 11 batsmen and throwing 87 spots. He generated 17 swings on 40 swings, including seven on his dominant cutter in the mid-90s. All in all, it was a great season-ending debut for Burnes, who finished sixth in the Cy Young Award poll last year, after posting a 2.11 ERA and 37 percent of the innings he had in 59 2/3 overs has, struck.
If Burnes had completed the no-hitter, and it probably would have been a joint effort given its pitch, it would have been the second in franchise history. The first and only other no-no was thrown by Juan Nieves in April 1987 against the Baltimore Orioles.
MLB had two non-hits during the pandemic shortened 2020 season. Lucas Giolito scored against the Pittsburgh Pirates, then Alec Mills against the Milwaukee Brewers. In 2019, the most recent season played under normal circumstances, MLB saw three non-victims, including two joint attempts.