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With the baseball world still buzzing about the worst call ever to end a 19-inning game, Angels’ starting pitcher Ervin Santana decided to force everyone to move on. Santana pitched a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians getting the 3-1 victory, the ninth in Angels’ history. Not only was it his first no-hitter, it was also his first career victory over the Indians.
It’s remarkable considering the first inning when Indians’ leadoff hitter Ezequiel Carrera reached first base on an error by Angels’ shortstop Erick Aybar. Carrera stole second, went to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch by Santana. But after that, nothing. In fact the only other base runner Santana allowed was a one-out walk to Lonnie Chisenhall in the eighth inning.
Meanwhile the Indians helped the Angels out with their five errors: fielding errors by third baseman Chisenhall, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and right fielder Austin Kearns and throwing errors by catcher Carlos Santana and first baseman Matt LaPorta.
In a way, the whole circle of life thing came into play. On May 17, 2005 Santana made his debut at Progressive Field (then called Jacobs Field.) Santana didn’t fare well giving up a cycle in the first inning before recording his first out: a triple to Grady Sizemore; double to Coco Crisp; single to Travis Hafner; homer to Ben Broussard. Six years later, he on that same mound tossing a no-hitter.
Santana becomes the first Angel pitcher since Mike Witt on Sept. 30, 1984 against the Texas Rangers to toss a complete game no-hitter (and that was a perfect game, no less.) Mark Langston and Witt combined for a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners on April 11, 1990. Santana also becomes the first Major League pitcher to toss a no-hitter and give up a run since Darryl Kyle on Sept. 8, 1993 in his 7-1 victory for the Houston Astros against the New York Mets. The last American League pitcher to complete that feat was the Chicago White Sox’s Joe Cowley on Sept. 16, 1986 against the California Angels.
