It was déjà vu in the Bronx on Saturday, as the Astros threw a combined no-hitter against the Yankees — replicating a feat Houston pulled off at the old Yankee Stadium in 2003.
Cristian Javier completed the first seven innings against New York, striking out a career-high 13 batters, before Héctor Neris and Ryan Pressly finished off the combo no-no with one inning apiece against the Bronx Bombers, who have MLB’s best record.
Here are 10 stats and facts about the 14th no-hitter in Houston franchise history and the 18th combined no-hitter in MLB history.
• The Astros now have 14 no-hitters in their history, tying the Braves and Guardians for seventh most. No expansion franchise that joined MLB in 1961 or later has more no-hitters. The first of those came in their second year of existence in 1963. That’s two more than any other team in that span, with the Dodgers having 12 since 1963.
• The last time the Yankees were no-hit? June 11, 2003, also by the Astros, also a combined no-no and also in the Bronx. Houston used six pitchers in that 2003 no-hitter, the most in a combined no-hitter.
• This is the third combined no-hitter in Astros history and MLB’s 18th combo effort. The club also threw a combo no-no on Aug. 3, 2019, against the Mariners, with Aaron Sanchez, Will Harris, Joe Biagini and Chris Devenski participating. The Astros are the first team with three combined no-hitters.
• The Astros’ 2003 no-hitter came at old Yankee Stadium. This was the first no-no thrown at the Yanks’ new ballpark, which opened in 2009.
• Javier threw 115 pitches, shattering his previous career high for a game. He threw 107 on April 27, 2021, marking the only other time he reached 100 pitches.
• Javier recorded 13 strikeouts across seven innings against the Yankees, not only establishing a career high but also posting double-digit K’s in an outing for the first time in his career.
• Javier’s 13 K’s were the most by an Astros pitcher since Gerrit Cole struck out 15 in Game 2 of the 2019 ALDS against the Rays. Coincidentally, Cole was the opposing starter in this game, allowing one run over seven innings in a losing effort.
• How untouchable was Javier? In addition to his 13 K’s, the right-hander had eight batted balls that were tracked by Statcast. Only one had an expected batting average, based on exit velocity and launch angle, higher than .140 — Josh Donaldson reached on an error in the bottom of the seventh inning after hitting a grounder to third base with an xBA of .340.
• Martín Maldonado, the catcher for Saturday’s no-hitter, was also behind the plate for Houston’s combined no-no in 2019. He’s the first backstop to catch multiple combined no-hitters.
• The Yankees entered Saturday with a .732 winning percentage. That’s the highest winning percentage for a team entering a game where they were no-hit at least 50 games into a season, according to STATS. In fact, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, no team had even been no-hit under those criteria with a winning percentage above .691.