Six Mariners Pitchers Combine For No-Hitter

Mariners starting pitcher Kevin Millwood on the mound. (Otto Greule, Jr.)

No pitcher wants to leave his start early when he has a no-hitter going. Just think about Johan Santana last weekend. Despite his pitch count for the game, he was determined to finish what he started. Probably the only way you can get a pitcher to leave the game if he has a no-hitter going is injury. Unfortunately, that is what happened to Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Kevin Millwood.

Millwood was on the mound tonight for the Mariners facing off against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He had his stuff working tonight. Through six innings, Millwood had given up no hits, while walking just one batter and striking out six. While warming up prior to the seventh inning, he felt a twinge in his groin. Milwood felt as though he had no choice but to walk off the field.

Over the next three innings, the Mariners used five relievers in their effort to preserve Millwood's no-hitter. In the eighth inning, the Dodgers earned a pair of leadoff walk. A sacrifice moved the runners to second and third with just one out. The Mariners elected to bring in demoted closer Brandon League. League was clutch getting A.J. Ellis to line out and then struck out Tony Gwynn to end the threat. Tom Wilhelmsen came in closed out the no-hitter in the ninth. It wasn't necessarily pretty, but they got the job done. The combined no-hitter was the tenth in MLB history. The combined pitchers tonight for the Mariners were Kevin Millwood, Charlie Furbush, Stephen Pryor, Lucas Luetge, Brandon League, and Tom Wilhelmsen. These Mariners deserve to be commended. They picked each other up when they needed to. They demonstrated true team spirit and effort in their historic feat.