A pair of Blue Jays hurlers entered the record books on Thursday night by combining to toss a six-inning no-hitter for Class A Lansing in a 1-0 loss against Peoria in Game 2 of a doubleheader. It was the second no-hitter in 21 years for the franchise, and its first since April 23, 2003.
Making his seventh start of the season for Lansing, right-hander Jordan Romero retired the first six hitters he faced before plunking Peoria third baseman Dylan Becker with a pitch to leadoff the third inning. He then issued a one-out walk, putting runners on first and second base, but induced a pair of popouts to keep the no-hit bid in tact.
With five hitless inning under his belt, Romero, 23, returned to the mound for the sixth inning, only to be lifted for right-hander Josh DeGraaf after he issued a leadoff walk. Peoria leadoff man Magneuris Sierra (Cardinals' No. 4) followed with a sacrifice bunt that was mishandled by DeGraff, and the Chiefs proceeded to load the bases with one out when Lansing's middle infielders were unable to convert a ground ball into an out.
Second baseman Eliezer Alvarez then delivered a sacrifice fly to center field to put Peoria on the board, while Tyler Bray secured the win for the Chiefs with a pair of strikeouts as part of a perfect seventh inning.
Although he was a tough-luck loser, Romero, a 10th-round Draft pick in 2014 out of Oral Roberts, owns a 1.09 ERA through 33 innings (six starts) for Lansing after Thursday's performance. He's struck out 31 in that span while also holding opposing hitters to a .171 average.