Oakland Athletics pitcher Sean Manaea has thrown the first no-hitter of the 2018 season against the Boston Red Sox. The Athletics won 3-0 and the final stats for Manaea were 10 strikeouts, two walks throwing 108 pitches. This is the first Athletics no-hitter since Dallas Braden threw a perfect game in 2010 against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Manaea polished off the no-hitter by inducing a groundball to shortstop by Hanley Ramirez.
Manaea no-hits the Red Sox! pic.twitter.com/JqVhr1dTvI
— A’s on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) April 22, 2018
This no-hitter was the first time the Red Sox have been no-hit since 1983 when Chris Bosio no-hit them. The Red Sox were coming off a two win streak, including the 8-2 win against star pitcher Shohei Ohtani and the Angels. Coincidentally, this is the same date in which Jake Arrieta threw a no-hitter in 2016 and Philip Humber threw a perfect game in 2012.
During the game, Manaea almost lost his no-hitter twice with controversial calls in the 5th and 6th inning. A ball deflected off of Marcus Semien’s glove allowing Sandy Leon to reach first, it was scored as an error even though some people believe it was a base hit. There was also a play that had to be reviewed because Andrew Benintendi was called out after it was decided that he was outside the baseline. The play was initially ruling Benintendi safe but after the review, he attempted to avoid the tag and he was outside of the baseline.
Manaea is a 26 year old who has spent three years in Major League Baseball, all three with the Athletics. In 2017, Manaea was 12-10 with an ERA of 4.35. Manaea hails from Wantanah, Indiana, playing college balls for Indiana State University.
