Houston Astros pitchers make history with 18th no-hitter

[p]It marked the 18th no-hitter for the franchise, which is now tied for the third-most by any team in MLB history. It is also more than any other franchise since the Astros became a team in 1962.[/p][p]Starting pitcher [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/imai-tatsuya/pYfvbmmh/"]Tatsuya Imai[/a] tossed a no-hitter through the first six innings with four walks and two strikeouts (97 pitches, 57 strikes). Then relief pitcher Steven Okert tossed a no-hit seventh inning before Alimber Santa finished it in the eighth and ninth innings. [/p][embed guid="7ce92b50-a343-497c-ba42-668a72e12f23" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr1DvG9RnWQ" social-type="youtube" /][p]After struggling a lot in his first season in the MLB, including off-the-field problems adapting to American life away from Japan, Imai finally found his stride. [/p][p]Heading into this matchup, Imai posted a brutal 8.31 earned run average (now at 6.17), having given up 14 walks and 17 hits in 17.1 innings this season, posting a 1.788 WHIP. [/p][p]Now, he might've found the gem of a game he needed to settle in. [/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alvarez-yordan/dINBHBc3/"]Yordan Alvarez[/a] rocked his 16th home run of the season, while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/walker-christian/bDtjStvD/"]Christian Walker[/a] belted his 15th, bringing in five of Houston's nine runs. [/p][p]The [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/houston-astros/lfZXonNq/"]Astros[/a] improved to 24-31 in the American League West division, still sitting behind the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/texas-rangers/f3GcHO7j/"]Rangers[/a] (24-29). [/p][embed guid="fcb9db39-7624-462a-b900-b63f51294069" url="https://x.com/MLB/status/2059078268003745814?s=20" social-type="twitter" /]