Ronel Blanco has secured a special first…
The 30-year-old Dominican professional baseball pitcher, who made his first Opening Day roster, has thrown the first no-hitter in Major League Baseball this season.
Blanco struck out seven and walked two in the Houston Astros‘ 10-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night. Blanco, who didn’t play in the MLB until he was 28, was making just his eighth career start. He wouldn’t even be in Houston’s rotation if not for injuries to Justin Verlander and Jose Urquidy.
“It’s been a very long road traveled for me,” he said in Spanish through an interpreter. “A lot of ups, a lot of downs, a lot of falls, a lot of me getting back up. But I think all of that has been worth it for me to be able to get to this moment.”
He walked George Springer to start the game and again with two outs in the ninth.
When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded out to end it, Blanco smiled broadly before raising his arms above his head just before being mobbed by teammates.
“I see it as a great blessing, a great blessing for me and my family,” he said. “With the arrival of my daughter I see it as a life-changing experience, and I dedicate this to my family and my daughter.”
It was the 17th no-hitter in Astros history and the first in the majors since Philadelphia’s Michael Lorenzen threw one against the Washington Nationals on Aug. 9 of last year.
Houston’s previous no-hitter came about a week before that one when Framber Valdez did it in a 2-0 win over Cleveland on August 1.
Kyle Tucker and Yainer Diaz each homered twice as the Astros won their first game of the season after losing four to the Yankees. Houston’s Joe Espada became the first manager in major league history to get his first win in a no-hitter.
“I couldn’t be any happier for the way today turned out,” Espada said.
The Astros are the fourth team in MLB history to get their first win of the season in a no-hitter, and the first since Boston’s Hideo Nomo pitched one against the Orioles in 2001. Nomo’s no-hitter that year came on April 4. That was the record for the earliest no-hitter by calendar date, according to Sportradar, but Blanco’s gem broke the mark by three days.
Blanco threw 105 pitches, averaging 93.6 mph with 31 fastballs and also throwing 36 changeups, 34 sliders and four curveballs.
Espada said the changeup was the key to Blanco’s success Monday.
“It makes the fastball and the slider that much better,” he said. “The way it comes out of the hand, it looks just like his fastball and hitters are committed to potentially swinging at a fastball and the ball just kind of falls in the zone. It’s a pitch that he’s worked really hard on and it paid big dividends tonight.”
Toronto manager John Schneider agreed.
“Really good changeup, it was almost like a split, slider combo,” he said. “Give him credit — that’s really hard to do. I know he hasn’t been starting much, but he was really good and his changeup was outstanding.”
