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The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Wade Miley. Derek Johnson deserves a raise and a new corvette with some dice hanging from the rear-view mirror, but it’s absolutely, positively Wade Miley here.
The lefty spun an absolute gem in the series opener against Cleveland, once again giving the Cincinnati Reds a rock in their rotation after the notable departures from last season. It’s something he’s done pretty repeatedly so far in 2021, which has been even more important as Sonny Gray was eased back into things slowly.
Oh, he also threw A NO HITTER! A GRADE-A, FIRST-CLASS, NON-GMO, FREE RANGE CAGE FREE NO FREAKIN’ HITTER!
He needed 114 pitches to accomplish the feat, walked just a lone Cleveland hitter, and kept his opponents off-kilter the entire evening. A truly remarkable performance and one that was a dream to watch.
Congrats, Wade. Well freakin’ done.
Key Plays
- In the Bottom of the 1st, Miley allowed no hits.
- In the Bottom of the 2nd, Miley allowed zero hits.
- In the Bottom of the 3rd, Miley allowed nary a hit.
- In the Bottom of the 4th, Miley failed to yield a hit.
- In the Bottom of the 5th, Miley allowed fewer than 1 hit in a game that does not include fractional hits.
- In the Bottom of the 6th, Miley allowed baserunners, but allowed no hits.
- In the Bottom of the 7th, Miley allowed no hits.
- In the Bottom of the 8th, Miley allowed no hits.
- Emmanuel Clase took over for Zach Plesac in the Top of the 9th, and each of Nick Senzel and Jesse Winker reached via singles with none out. Nick Castellanos then dinked a dribbler to Clase that he then threw wide of 2B while trying to turn a DP, and that allowed the speedy Senzel to motor all the way around to score. Clase then balked to bring in Winker, and a Moose single through the hole between 2B and 3B brought in the other Nick to give the Reds a 3-0 lead.
- In the Bottom of the 9th, Miley simply refused to allow a hit, wrapping his no-no and giving the Reds a 3-0 win.
Tony Graphanino
Source: FanGraphs
Other Notes
- Wade’s would-be perfecto went poof in the Bottom of the 6th when Nick Senzel was charged with a throwing error. In reality, Senzel made a diving stab moving up the middle, knocked down what very well was going to be a hit, and then threw wide of 1B. So, in effect lost the perfecto but kept the no-no intact. Miley also just fuckin’ walked a guy that inning, but who cares.
- Leave it to Zach Plesac to pee in the no-hitter pool all evening. He threw rocks across his 8 IP, too, keeping the Reds from doing anything offensively while Miley did his thing.
- Saturday’s contest between Cleveland and Cincinnati will feature starters Aaron Civale and Luis Castillo sharing the mound. First pitch is set for 6:10 PM ET.
- Tunes.