Sean Manaea’s no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox was a thing of beauty

We have our first no-hitter of the season, courtesy of Oakland Athletics pitcher Sean Manaea.

We’re not even into May and we already have our first no-hitter of the season thanks to Sean Manaea. A no-hitter is quite the feat, no matter who’s in town. But the A’s were playing the hottest team in baseball in the Boston Red Sox, making it that much more impressive.

Manaea carved up the Red Sox lineup all night long, going all nine innings and blanking Boston on zero hits, two walks and 10 strikeouts.

Manaea started the ninth inning by getting catcher Blake Swihart to ground out to short. Mookie Betts then flew out to right field for the second out. The Red Sox tried to make things interesting late when Andrew Benintendi was walked with two outs. But Manaea was able to keep his composure, getting Hanley Ramirez to ground into to a fielder’s choice to seal the deal.

In total, the A’s pitcher threw 108 pitches on the night, 75 of which were strikes. It was the first time the Red Sox had been no-hit since the Mariners did it to them in 1993. As for the Athletics, this is their seventh no-hitter in franchise history. Dallas Braden was the last Oakland pitcher to go the distance without allowing a hit when he tossed a perfect game in 2010.

Manaea is now 3-2 with a robust 1.23 ERA on the season. He’s been one of the few bright spots on the A’s pitching staff. The 26-year-old left-hander has yet to give up more than two earned runs in a game this year.

Just their third loss of the season, the Red Sox have finally come down to earth. Despite striking out 10 batters, Chirs Sale gave up three runs, taking the loss.

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After flashing his potential in his first two seasons, Manaea was due for a breakout year. And boy has he delivered so far. The first no-hitter of the season is in the books.