Twins’ Kyle Gibson removed from no-hitter after sixth inning

Kyle Gibson was removed from a no-hit bid after six innings on Saturday night due to his high pitch count.

Gibson made his season debut for the Minnesota Twins at home against the Baltimore Orioles. Though he didn’t allow a hit, he walked five batters and had thrown 102 pitches through six. That led manager Paul Molitor to lift him from the game for Ryan Pressly.

Pressly carried the team no-hitter into the eighth until Jonathan Schoop broke it up with a two-out single.

This is Gibson’s first outing of the season, so he’s not even close to being ready to throw many more pitches than that. If your goal is long-term success rather than one night of some glory, removing Gibson was by far the right move, especially when he still had so far to go for the no-hitter.