New York Mets silence Phillies for second no-hitter in 9,588-game history

Tylor Megill and the New York Mets bullpen kept throwing and throwing, the crowd growing louder with every toss.

A 159-pitch gem, it was.

Megill and four relievers combined on the first no-hitter of the Major League Baseball season, teaming up to lead the Mets over the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0 Friday night.

“Just a really fun team moment,” said Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, who homered. “This is one of my all-time highlights, because, like, how often do you see a no-hitter? It’s like seeing a white buffalo or a unicorn.”

Megill started and was pulled after five innings and 88 pitches. The bullpen took over from there, with Drew Smith, Joely Rodríguez, Seth Lugo and Edwin Díaz completing the second no-hitter in Mets history.

The moment history was made. pic.twitter.com/5YiV6WH5yT

Johan Santana threw the Mets’ only previous no-hitter on 1 June 2012, when he struck out eight and needed 134 pitches in an 8-0 win over the St Louis Cardinals. This was the Mets’ 9,588th game, including postseason, since becoming an expansion team in 1962.

Per Baseball-Reference.com, these 159 pitches were the most thrown in a no-hitter. Six Houston Astros pitchers threw 151 pitches in their no-hitter against the Yankees in 2003.

“Team game,” Megill said.

“I’m ecstatic. It’s crazy. First one I’ve been part of.”

All the relievers before Díaz said they didn’t know they were working on a combined no-hitter. Rodríguez said he was getting treatment in the ninth inning when he realized what was happening.

“Ninth inning, one out, I checked the TV and said ‘What? Zero?’” Rodriguez said as McCann exchanged a fist bump with Diaz on a podium in the Mets’ interview room. “I said, ‘Hey, give me five minutes, I have to go out.’”

With the crowd of 32,416