ARLINGTON -- Tatsuya Imai walked the first two batters he faced Monday night, throwing only two of his first 10 pitches for strikes. That prompted a visit from pitching coach Josh Miller, whose message must have struck the right tone with the former Japanese superstar.
Imai responded by getting a double play grounder and then allowed just two of the next 17 batters he faced to reach to finish six scoreless innings and combined with two relief pitchers to throw the first no-hitter in the Major Leagues in nearly two years in the Astros’ 9-0 win over the Rangers at Globe Life Field.
The no-no was the first in the Major Leagues since the Cubs’ Shota Imanaga, Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge against the Pirates on Sept. 4, 2024.
Reliever Steven Okert threw a scoreless seventh and Alimber Santa -- in his Major League debut -- threw the final two innings to polish off the 18th no-hitter in Astros history and first since Ronel Blanco no-hit the Blue Jays on April 1, 2024.
It’s the fifth combined no-hitter in Astros history -- the first since Cristian Javier, Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series against the Phillies.
Imai, who signed with the Astros for three years and $54 million in the winter, got off to a rocky start in Houston. He had a 7.27 ERA after three starts and was placed on the injured list with arm fatigue after a disastrous outing April 10 in Seattle in which he gave up three runs and four walks while getting one out. He returned May 12 and gave up six runs in four innings against the Mariners before a solid start a week ago at the Twins – three runs in 4 2/3 innings.
Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña led off the game with a hit by pitch, stole second and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Yordan Alvarez, who led off the fourth inning by clubbing his 16th hammer of the season -- coming off Rangers starter Kumar Rocker -- for a 2-0 lead. A perfectly executed squeeze bunt by Christian Vázquez and an RBI single by Peña made it 4-0 in the fifth.
Red-hot Christian Walker added a three-run homer in the seventh -- his fourth homer in three games and 15th for the season, putting him one behind Alvarez. Walker has three RBIs in each of his last three games, giving him 40 for the season.