Four Sacramento pitchers combine to throw first 9-inning no hitter in River Cats’ history

West Sacramento, Calif. — The Sacramento River Cats (46-55) made history at Sutter Health Park on Friday against the Salt Lake Bees (43-60). Right-hander Norwith Gudiño, lefty Conner Menez (2-1), righty Tyler Cyr, and righty Trevor Gott combined for the first nine-inning no-hitter in Sacramento River Cats’ history.

Gudiño, making just his fourth Triple-A start, struck out a season-high nine in 4.0 innings before making way to the bullpen.

“Gudiño has been putting in the work,” pitching coach Garvin Alston said. “The one thing he hasn’t had all the time he’s been here is his split-finger, and today he had it. We made some slight adjustments in his last bullpen, and it was really, really good. What ended up happening is he was able to find it early. That’s his swing-and-miss pitch, which is outstanding.

Menez took over, striking out another three in 3.0 innings while earning the win.

“I was aware of what was going on,” Menez said. “I was just trying to stick to my gameplan, throw strikes, get ahead on hitters, and try to put them away. I have been working really hard on my mechanics lately and everything kind of came together tonight.”

Cyr took over for the eighth, ending the inning with a strikeout.

“At that moment in time, I really wasn’t [aware of the no hitter] until I was done pitching and had the opportunity to look at the scoreboard, and realized what was going on,” Cyr said. “At that point, you just want to remain focused and make sure you’re not invading anyone’s space. Thankfully my teammate Gott came in and shut it down and we were able to celebrate a no hitter. That was awesome.”

Gott finished off the no hitter, striking out two before getting the final out on a ground out to shortstop Mauricio Dubón.

“I just went in and pitched my game,” Gott said. “Gudiño really set the tone early, with nine strikeouts in 4.0 innings. Conner, that’s the best I’ve seen him this year, and Cyr did his thing. I just wanted to go in, close it out, and spend the least amount of time on the field as possible.”

The only other no-hitter thrown in River Cats’ history was a seven-inning gem tossed by lefty Micah Bowie on May 1, 2001 against Tacoma.

None of the four pitchers, nor catcher Joey Bart had been a part of a no hitter, with Alston coaching one seven-inning no hitter by former River Cat Jared Lansford in 2006 with Kane County.

“First one ever,” Bart said. “That’s one of the coolest things. I can barely talk right now. The way these guys have been grinding all year, I’ve been grinding all year, for us to put that together, it was a lot of fun. It means a lot.”

Right-hander Sean Hjelle (1-2, 6.65) looks to make it four in a row on Saturday, taking on lefty Thomas Pannone (3-10, 7.77) at 7:05 p.m. (PT). Watch Johnny Doskow and J.T. Snow call the game live on CW-31 or listen online at rivercats.com or on the MiLB First Pitch app.

Additional Notes

• The River Cats struck first for the fifth consecutive game. In the bottom of the first, first baseman Jason Krizan blooped a single into no man’s land to score center fielder Steven Duggar. Krizan tied his season-high nine-game hitting streak with a 2-for-4 day. He is hitting .514 with 11 RBIs over that span.
• Aggressive base running gave Sacramento a 4-0 lead in the seventh. With two on, a hit-and-run got the runners moving for Duggar, who blooped a single to center field. Second baseman Arismendy Alcántara, who never looked back on contact, was able to score from first base with a head first slide into home.
• The River Cats struck out 15 batters with the lone base runner for Salt Lake being a sixth-inning hit-by-pitch for designated hitter Mitch Walding.