Sean Manaea made his 2019 season debut on Sunday, Sept. 1 for the Oakland Athletics, his first start in over a year (last was Aug. 24, 2018). His return makes a unique trio of starters for the Green and Gold.
When left-handed pitcher and facial hair aficionado Sean Manaea made his season debut on Sunday for the Oakland Athletics, pitching five scoreless innings against the New York Yankees, he will provide a bump to the starting rotation that has had to shoulder a lot for this potential playoff team.
Manaea started in place of Mike Fiers – who has thrown at least five innings in 22 consecutive starts and at least 85 pitches in 19 of his last 20 starts – and when he did, he created a rare combination in the A’s starting rotation.
Manaea, Fiers and Homer Bailey – who will each start in three consecutive games – have all thrown no-hitters in their MLB careers (Fiers and Bailey have each thrown two).
It is the first time in MLB that a team has had three pitchers who have each throw a no-hitter start in three consecutive games since… I don’t know because Tim Kurkjian didn’t reply to my Tweet.
Regardless, it is an exciting proposition for the A’s, who didn’t have enough trust in their starting staff in 2018 to throw one guy out there in the Wild Card Game.
In light of the A’s new triplets, let’s take a look at the five no-hitters and see who’s was best.