Heading into Wednesday’s start, it had been two years, nine months and 15 days since Corey Kluber’s last career shutout. In the time between, the man who once topped 200 innings for five straight years pitched just 26 times over three seasons, fighting through injuries and ineffectiveness to desperately rediscover the form that once made him so dominant.
Against the Rangers at Globe Life Field, "Klubot" validated his comeback by reaching heights he hadn't even breached during his two Cy Young campaigns.
Kluber struck out nine batters and needed 101 pitches in throwing the 12th no-hitter in Yankees history, completing a return to his old self that had been years in the making and had really taken hold in the past few weeks. Kluber is 4–0 in his last five starts, with a 1.78 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 35 1/3 innings, giving the Yankees a second ace behind Gerrit Cole to form one of the best one-two punches in the American League.
Beyond Kluber’s resurgence, Wednesday’s no-hitter simultaneously felt significant and mundane, and for the same reason: There have been so many darn no-hitters! Kluber’s was the sixth no-hitter of the season—not counting Madison Bumgarner’s seven-inning edition—and second in less than 24 hours. Three teams—the Rangers, Mariners and Cleveland—have been no-hit twice this season, which is an incredible sentence to type in mid-May (or any time, really). The conditions for throwing a no-hitter have never been more optimal, but it’s safe to say this is getting to be a bit much.
There are just 11 games on the schedule for Thursday. Only nine of them are slated for nine innings, hurting the chances this streak will live to see its third day. But given what we’ve seen so far, it’s best to be on high alert, just in case.
