DSL Red Sox no-hit themselves, well, sort of
When you play in a league with more than one team from your organization, every head-to-head matchup comes with bragging rights. The Rookie-level Dominican Summer League Red Sox Blue commandeered them on Thursday in pretty remarkable fashion – no-hitting organizational counterpart Red Sox Red in a 1-0 victory. That’s right:
When you play in a league with more than one team from your organization, every head-to-head matchup comes with bragging rights.
The Rookie-level Dominican Summer League Red Sox Blue commandeered them on Thursday in pretty remarkable fashion – no-hitting organizational counterpart Red Sox Red in a 1-0 victory.
That’s right: the Red Sox no-hit the Red Sox.
Right-hander Jose Martinez and lefty Nicolas De La Cruz delivered the second no-hitter in the DSL and 13th in the Minors this season, and Jhoan Solarte’s run-scoring single in the fifth inning proved the difference in the seven-inning no-no between two teams that share a logo, a complex and a Minor League system.
Martinez and De La Cruz combined to strike out five while coming one base runner away from a perfect game – the Red Squad only reached on a free pass Martinez issued to the second batter of the game, Franklin Arias. Martinez then induced a double play from Yohander Linarez and retired his final nine batters in order, striking out the side in the fourth to end his outing.
De La Cruz came on in the fifth and set down all nine batters he faced. Combined, the two Blue pitchers faced the minimum 21 batters.
This is the kind of thing that only happens in Rookie ball, where organizations often split their complex rosters into multiple teams that play each other throughout the summer. The players who advance to affiliated ball then become teammates, as each big league organization has only one team at each affiliated level. For the future teammates on both Red Sox DSL squads, Thursday's game provided something to talk about for years to come.
For everyone else, it stands as one of the more unusual no-hitters to occur in the Minors – but far from the only one. On April 8, the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas (Angels) no-hit Chattanooga – in a 7-5 loss. On Aug. 18, 2022, the DSL saw the Cubs and Pirates no-hit each other in a 2-0 Cubs win.
On Thursday, one Red Sox team achieved a remarkable feat – at the expense of another.
Joe Trezza is an contributor for MiLB.com.