Since September 4, 2024, Major League Baseball has been devoid of a no-hitter, and on Monday evening, J.T. Ginn of the Athletics came tantalizingly close to ending this dry spell in Anaheim against the Angels. With a 1-0 lead, Ginn entered the ninth inning on the cusp of history, only to see his efforts unravel in a dramatic walk-off loss.
The game had been a nail-biting affair, locked at 0-0 until the ninth inning when the A’s managed to edge ahead. The stage was set for Ginn after a minor rally. However, the Angels had other plans. Adam Frazier led off the ninth with a single, and just three pitches later, Zach Neto crushed a walk-off home run to center field, dashing Ginn’s hopes.
While Ginn might not have been the most obvious candidate for a no-hitter, he certainly put up a remarkable performance. Prior to this game, the right-hander had surpassed six innings only once, during an eight-inning start on May 7 earlier this season. Entering the game, he had allowed 36 hits over 43 ⅓ innings, making his near no-hitter a surprising feat.
Ginn’s performance wasn’t merely a fluke of good fortune. He thoroughly overpowered the struggling Angels lineup from the outset, striking out 10 batters while allowing just one walk. The Angels barely managed any solid contact until Jo Adell’s eighth-inning line out to center. Until then, Ginn had efficiently dispatched batters with a mix of strikeouts and weakly hit balls.
Yet, in a bitter twist of fate, his dominance slipped away with just two batters in the ninth. The absence of offensive support left Ginn with the undeserved title of hard-luck loser.
Had Ginn completed the no-hitter, it would have marked the 14th in the celebrated history of the Athletics franchise, the last of which was achieved by Mike Fiers against the Reds on May 7, 2019.
Of further interest here is that this was close to being the first no-hitter in the majors since September 2024, when the Cubs had a combined no-no against the Pirates. The most recent no-hitter from an individual pitcher came on Aug. 2, 2024 when Blake Snell did so against the Reds.
The Angels haven’t been no-hit since 1999, when Eric Milton of the Twins twirled a gem.
The A’s loss pushed them to 23-24 on the season, though that’s good enough for first place in the AL West. The Angels move to 17-31.
