clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Was Mauer's Performance Better Than A No-Hitter?

New, 1 comment

In case you’ve been asleep since about 5 p.m. yesterday, you saw that former Twin Matt Garza put together the first no-hitter in Tampa Bay Rays history against the fading Detroit Tigers. Garza faced the minimum of 27 hitters in the Rays’ 5-0 victory at Tropicana Field.

↵

Garza’s performance was the fifth no-hitter of the 2010 season -- sixth if you count Armando Galarraga’s should-have-been perfect game -- and the 177th in the history of Major League Baseball. A great performance, to be sure ... but the folks on ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike In the Morning brought up an interesting point.

↵

In last night’s 19-1 rout of Kansas City, Twins’ catcher Joe Mauer went 5-for-5 with seven runs batted in. And while there have been 177 no-hitters in Major League Baseball history, Mauer’s performance last night marks only the 44th time a player has had at least five hits and seven RBI in the same game.

↵

So while it could be argued that Mauer’s achievement was as good or better, there is no arguing that it’s a significantly rarer feat.

Photographs by Micah Taylor, clairity, and Fibonacci Blue used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.