Houston Astros: Top 5 recent sports moments: Justin Verlander’s no-hitter

The third of the Top 5 recent Houston sports moments is Houston Astros’ pitcher Justin Verlander’s third career no-hitter. Let’s look back.

Houston Astros’ fans — we knew back Sep. 1, 2019, something special was brewing in the Rogers Centre for Justin Verlander.

Verlander generated swing and misses all afternoon, pitching eight no-hit innings with his only blemish coming in the first inning when he walked Cavan Biggio, son of Houston Astros Hall of Famer Craig Biggio. The problem was that the Astros offense had not given Verlander any run support meaning the game was 0-0 heading into the ninth.

With two outs and a runner on second in the top of the ninth, Canadian born rookie third baseman Abraham Toro stepped to the plate, who changed everything with one swing of the bat. Toro took a 1-1 pitch off former Astros closer Ken Giles deep over the left field wall to give Houston a 2-0 lead.

After Toro’s home run, Verlander, who has blown his fair share of no-hitters in the eighth or ninth inning over the course of his career, was determined to finish this one off and would not be denied. Verlander retired all three Blue Jays he faced in the bottom of the ninth, capping off an incredible 14 strikeout no-hitter.

Relive all 27 outs from Verlander’s no-hitter below:

This marked Verlander’s third career no-hitter, putting him in exclusive company with five other pitchers who have at least three no-hitters in their careers. Verlander, who no-hit the Blue Jays in 2011 as a member of the Detroit Tigers, became the first pitcher in MLB history to no-hit the same team twice on the road. It also marked the 13th no-hitter in Houston Astros history and the second Astros no-hitter of 2019.

This no-hitter was the icing on the cake for the 36-year-old Verlander’s 2019 AL Cy Young winning season. On the season, Verlander went 21-6 with a 2.58 ERA, a .803 WHIP, and 300 strikeouts.