Francisco Liriano pitched the first no hitter against the White Sox this season.
May 7, 2011- Francisco Liriano of the Minnesota Twins no hit the Chicago White Sox Tuesday night to be the first pitcher in baseball to do it this season. He was not even sure he would last the entire game. In his previous 200 plus starts in professional baseball he had never completed an entire game. In the eighth inning it started to dawn on him that he had not given up a hit and if he had the strength and stamina he may be able to make it through the game.
His worries were for not as he pitched out the ninth for his first no-hitter and his first complete game as a pitcher. Not bad two firsts in just one game. He was not at his best almost the entire game; walking six batters and throwing over 120 pitches, but his manager and pitching coach wanted him to get the no-hitter so they kept him in the game.
The final out of the game was a scorching line drive off the bat of Adam Dunn but luckily for Liriano the line drive was right at shortstop Matt Tolbert and the pitcher recorded the fifth no-hitter in Minnesota Twins history.
What is very surprising is that Liriano has had a terrible start to the season. Losing 4 of 6 decisions with an ERA of over 9.00 some thought he was pitching last night just to keep his spot in the rotation. His mechanics have been way off and his release point of the ball has been very inconsistent.
He was very grateful to his teammates for the fine fielding plays they made behind him with the highlight of those plays when Danny Valencia robbed Carlos Quentin of a hit by making a great play along the third base line. It was the first no-hitter for Minnesota since September of 1999.
