Astros combined no-hitter defined in five absolutely absurd stats

The Houston Astros ended MLB’s two-year no-hitter drought last night with a combined clean sheet from Tatsuya Imai, Steven Okert and Alimber Santa. I’ll forgive you if you haven’t heard of Santa, since it was his MLB debut. How cool is that? Even cooler: Per MLB.com, he is the first player to appear in a no-hitter in his MLB debut since Bumpus Jones in 1892. BUMPUS Jones. Folks.

But that's far from the only fun fact from Monday night, and in the spirit of no-hitters being awesome, I have put together a little grab-bag of wonderful no-hitter stats sourced from the World Wide Web, from my own research and from the recesses of my silly baseball brain, and supplemented with additional research. Please enjoy. 

1. Alimber Santa joins Bumpus Jones as the only two involved in a no-hitter in their MLB debut

We discussed this one above, but some deeper analysis of Bumpus Jones’ career provides more questions than answers. First and foremost, his no-hitter was a complete game but not a shutout. His team won 7-1, and it was the only game he appeared in during his rookie season. 

The rest of his career was not as sunshine and lollipops. Posting a 10.49 ERA in his remaining three seasons, Bumpus retired with negative bWAR, having walked 37 batters while only striking out 10. Jacob Misiorowski struck out 10 batters three different times in May of 2026. But Bumpus Jones has a no-hitter, the Miz does not. Advantage: Bumpus. 

2. The Astros threw a combined no-hitter despite having the worst ERA in baseball 

The Astros pitching staff has been abominable all season after losing multiple starters to injuries. In fact, I compared them to the bad parts of Nolan Ryan, a pitcher that walked way too many guys despite amazing strikeout numbers. You know what else Nolan Ryan did? Threw more no-hitters than anyone else in MLB history.

Even more fittingly, while he doesn’t bring the heat that made Ryan iconic, Tatsuya Imai — who pitched the first six innings of the no-no — is a high-strikeout, high walk-rate pitcher, in the 94th percentile for whiff rate and the third percentile for walks. Apparently, I was cooking with this Nolan Ryan comp way more than I even realized. 

3. Christian Vazquez has now caught two no-hitters for the Houston Astros despite only playing 85 total games in Houston 

Catcher Christian Vazquez played barely for the Astros in 2022 but managed to catch a no-hitter and win the World Series after being traded from Boston at the deadline. Even more interesting is how unlikely it seemed that Vazquez would be on a Major League team this season, having signed a Minor League contract with Houston after three disappointing years with Minnesota. He seems to be the secret sauce to no-hitters, though: Vazquez is averaging a no-hitter every 43 games played in Houston, meaning he’s on pace for at least another two this season. We call that Next-Gen Napkin Analytics. 

4. Of the 22 combined no-hitters in MLB history, the Astros have thrown five of them

That seems like a really high rate for such a specific occurrence, but perhaps the city of Houston doesn’t like individual no-hitters and/or they might be cursed. Framber Valdez threw one in 2023 and is now on the Detroit Tigers. Ronel Blanco threw one in 2024, had a bad 2025 and is now on the 60-day IL. Coincidence? I think not.

5. Jose Altuve had been present for seven straight Astros no-hitters before missing Monday

The Astros have been throwing down a ton of no-hitters since 2015, and Altuve was the common denominator for all of them until Monday. I guess Vasquez is coming for Altuve’s throne of no-hitters per game. It’s a competitive category.

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