Roy Oswalt welcomes three Astros pitchers to no-hitter club

Roy Oswalt, part of the Houston Astros last no-hitter against the New York Yankees, welcomed Cristian Javier, Hector Neris and Ryan Pressly to the club.

The Houston Astros and New York Yankees have had some bad blood as of late, stemming mostly from their battles in two ALCS’ (2017, 2019) and the sign-stealing scandal. The Astros did get the better of the Yankees on Saturday, June 25, as Cristian Javier, Hector Neris and Ryan Pressly combined for a no-hitter at Yankee Stadium in the 3-0 win.

New York last got no-hit back on June 11, 2003 by the Astros. One of the pitchers of the combined no-hitter was Roy Oswalt, who took time to congratulate the Astros and welcomed them to the club.

Roy Oswalt welcomes Cristian Javier, Hector Neris and Ryan Pressly to Astros no-hitter club

In Houston’s previous no-hitter against the Yankees, Oswalt was the starter, but he had to leave in the second inning due to a groin injury. Even so, Houston manager Jimy Williams called upon Peter Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel, and Billy Wagner for the remainder of the game, and they did not allow an entire hit in the 8-0 win. This was Houston’s 10th no-hitter ever.

Flash forward to the game that took place at the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, Javier got the start and he mowed through New York’s lineup. In seven innings, Javier struck out 13 batters and walked just one on 115 pitches. Manager Dusty Baker opted to pull the 25-year-old from the game and rely on the bullpen.

Neris got out of a jam after walking two of his first three batters faced by getting Joey Gallo to fly out and Aaron Judge to force out. Pressly entered to close things out in the ninth inning, and he was successful in that by striking out Anthony Rizzo and Josh Donaldson in succession before forcing Giancarlo Stanton to ground out.

The pitchers received adequate run support, as J.J. Matijevic and Jose Altuve hit solo home runs in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, while Yuli Gurriel hit an RBI single in the ninth.

This is now Houston’s 14th no-hitter in franchise history, their first since Justin Verlander threw nine hitless innings against the Toronto Blue Jays on Sept. 1, 2019.