This baseball season has been entirely about pitching dominance. We’ve had two perfect games (and a third taken away by a bad call) and now two no-hitters. Ubaldo Jimenez no-hit the Braves, Roy Halladay tossed a perfect game against the Marlins, Dallas Braden threw a perfect game against the Rays, and now Edwin Jackson has also no-hit the Rays. In an unusual twist, the Rays were also the victim of Mark Buehrle’s perfect game last year. Jackson joins Randy Johnson as the only other Diamondback to throw a no-hitter, though The Big Unit’s was a perfect game.
The no-hitter was especially sweet for Jackson because it came against his former team Tampa Bay who traded him to Detroit prior to last season for the likes of Matt Joyce. Jackson really tried to stick it to management as Joyce took the collar going 0-for-4. The unusual part about Edwin’s no-hitter is that he walked eight batters, hit B.J. Upton, and allowed Carlos Pena to reach on an error. As a result, Edwin threw a sky-high 149 pitches which is a total almost unheard of these days. He got 10 ground ball outs, 10 fly outs, six strikeouts, and Carl Crawford was thrown out at second caught stealing.
Jackson was hardly dominant by comparison to the other three, but we know he was un-hittable on this night. Manager A.J. Hinch may take some criticism for allowing Jackson to throw 149 pitches but I think you had to let him do it. How can you take a pitcher out of a game when he’s three outs away from no-hitter immortality? Best part is Edwin Jackson saying if Hinch had removed him, it would have been over his dead body: “It was a pretty controversial move especially with me having thrown so many pitches but I just told him ‘I’m not coming out unless I give up a homer or a hit.’ If [Hinch] wanted to rest me the next start he could but I’m not coming out.” That’s the type of attitude you love to see out of your pitchers. Let’s hope Jackson can build on this outing the rest of the season.
Photo Credit: Santicontreras on twitter
