Ronel Blanco leads Astros to win with first no-hitter of 2024

The Dominican starter beats the Blue Jays with a no-hitter to give the Astros their first win of the 2024 season.

The Houston Astros won their first game, and did it in style, led by Dominican Ronel Blanco, who threw the first no-hitter of the 2024 Major League season in a 10-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Blanco became the tenth pitcher to throw a no-hitter in his first start of the season since 1901 and the first to do so since Japanese Hideo Nomo, who accomplished the feat in 2001, while the Astros are the first team to throw a no-hitter in his first start of the season. Throw the ball. Winning season even with a no-hitter since 2001 (Boston Red Sox).

The prospect of a perfect game eluded Ronel Blanco as he faced his first batter, when he walked George Springer on five pitches. Then, he retired 26 consecutive batters until the ninth inning and with two outs on the board, Springer reached base again with a walk. In the next inning, the Dominicans sealed the shutout with a grounder to second by Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Blanco, who was 2–1 with a 4.50 ERA in 2023, struck out seven batters on a total of 105 pitches, including 73 strikeouts, helping the Astros win their first game after being defeated by the Astros in four games. got help. The New York Yankees in their first series of the season. This is the first time that a Dominican player has broken the 100 pitches barrier in a game.

Blanco’s no-hitter is the 17th in Astros history, thus tying the Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds for fourth on the list of clubs with the most no-hitters in Major League history, which is Led by the Los Angeles Dodgers (26), Chicago White Sox (20) and Red Sox (18). Similarly, Houston became the second franchise in MLB history to record at least one no-hitter in three consecutive seasons. The Giants did this from 2012 to 2015.

In turn, the Dominican accomplished the feat in his eighth start in the majors after appearing in 17 games with Houston last season and seven in his rookie year (2022).

The last Dominican to throw a no-hitter before Blanco was Frambar Valdez, also with the Astros, in a 2–0 win over the Cleveland Guardians in 2023. The Dominican Republic is the first country other than the United States to have at least 10 pitchers on the hitless list.

In return, the Blue Jays increased the number of no-hit games in their history to eight.

ESPN stats and information contributed to this report.