Baseball Reflections

Milwaukee’s Burnes and Hader Combine To Break No-Hitter Record While Eddy Alvarez Hits 1st Career Homer

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The MLB’s no-hitter record has been broken, something which wasn’t totally unexpected given the way results panned out in the early going this season. The new record comes courtesy of the Milwaukee Brewers, who no-hit the Cleveland Indians at their Progressive Field on Saturday.

Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes struck out 14 batters and walked one in eight innings, with Josh Hader coming in for the ninth inning to close things out and help the Brewers to a 3-0 win – the team is also closing in on a playoff spot, as well as a division title. MLB odds have the Brewers as the second favorite to win the National League at 4/1.

After the game, Burnes told reporters he knew his pitch count would determine whether or not he would finish the contest but he was happy to have Hader come in behind him.

“I had to fight to get out there for the eighth (inning), but I knew I had no shot for the ninth,” he said, “if there’s anyone in the game that you’d want to come behind you to complete a no-hitter, it would be Josh Hader.”

The record, now broken, stood for well over 100 years. The last time eight no-hitters were thrown in a single season came in 1884 and, prior to this year, the most thrown in the modern era (since 1900) were seven, which has happened on four occasions, according to the MLB.

The record-breaker is the second no-hitter in Brewer’s history. The first one was thrown in 1987 when Juan Nieves no-hit the Baltimore Orioles. The Indians, meanwhile, have been no-hit three times this season, a record in itself. Cleveland broke their own record of suffering two no-hits in 1883, 1908 and 1951.

There have actually been two other games that had no-hitters this season, however, they did not count as official ones because just seven innings were played as part of a doubleheader. The Arizona Diamondbacks threw one in April, and the Tampa Bay Rays also did so in July.

In other MLB news, Miami Marlins infielder Eddy Alvarez hit his first career home run on Saturday, 35 days removed from getting a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics with Team USA.

Alvarez struck a 95.4 mph fastball from Charlie Morton of the Atlanta Braves to give the Marlins a 3-0 lead in the second inning. The home run is projected to have traveled 418 feet at 104.8 mph.

The homer comes in the 48th career plate and is quite the feel-good event around the MLB as it happened on September 11, a month after Alvarez represented his country in Tokyo.

“Now, that’s every kid’s dream, every kid that wants to make it to the Major Leagues, that’s all you dream about,” he said. “I didn’t know it was gonna be on this day. This day, it means a lot to me. And for all our fallen men and women and all the families that lost loved ones, 20 years later, for me with my story to have it on this day, this is, I can’t find another word but epic.”

The 31-year-old didn’t make his pro debut until last season as he started out as a professional speed skater. He won a silver medal at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi as a member of the 5,000-meter and didn’t sign a deal with a baseball team until June that year. He played his first game for Miami last term, playing in 12 games in August and September, returning to the roster last month.

Alvarez is just one of 135 athletes who have competed in both the Summer and Winter Olympics and is the sixth to win a medal in both games.

“I don’t even want to shower, guys, I’m not even lying to you,” he continued. “This has been an unbelievable ride. It’s hard to really put into words how much everything I’ve been blessed with, how much it means to me. I’m just trying to be the best person that I can be on and off the field, and I’m just gonna keep going. That’s kind of been my motto since I was younger. Through all adversity, all obstacles, I just keep pushing through. So we’re finally seeing a little bit of the sacrifice kind of showing up now.”

The team has recovered the homer ball from a young girl, who requested an autographed ball in exchange but Jazz Chisolm Jr., a second baseman, threw it into the netting above the dugout as a joke. It rolled back down to them.

“Oh, that was a surprisingly great reaction,” an appreciative Alvarez said. “Never in a million years did I ever think that I would get the feedback that I got from my teammates. In the back of my head, I thought they’re gonna give me the silent treatment, to be honest with you. But everyone was just giving me hugs. And they were meaningful hugs. And it just kind of shows me that they understand the road and the journey that it took for me to get to where I am now. I’m going to get a little emotional now because it means a lot.”

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