It’s easy to get caught up in no-hitters because they trend along one ballgame.
How about keeping opposing batters hitless through 12 games?
That’s 9 saves for Josh Hader and 12 consecutive hitless appearances to begin the season, a @MLB record.
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) September 3, 2020
That save also means another $2,000 for the @Players4planet Save the Ocean program supported by @SCJohnson, @Bruter24, Corey Knebel and the Brewers!#ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/sVfC5GE2ue
According to Elias Sports Bureau, Milwaukee Brewers left-handed pitcher Josh Hader has pitched 12 consecutive hitless outings which is the longest season-opening streak of appearances without allowing a hit in history.
Hader has been lights-out in 2020. In his 11.2 innings pitched he has struck out 18 while allowing 10 walks and just two runs.
RELATED: Unhittable Hader sets Major League record
Hader’s feats do not end there. In his 11.2 IP this season, he has faced 47 batters.
Not one of them has gotten a hit.
According to Jayson Stark of The Athletic, no other reliever since 1901 has started a season by holding the first 47 batters faced hitless. Stark said he found the stat using Baseball Reference’s Stathead search tool.
What Hader is doing is beyond impressive. But it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as Hader has been doing historic things for some time now.
On April 30, 2018, Hader struck out eight batters in 2.2 IP against Cincinnati. No other pitcher had struck out eight in an outing of less than three innings.
RELATED: Hader joins Randy Johnson in exclusive club
Hader is in his fourth season at the major-league level after being drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 19th round of the MLB Draft in 2011. He was traded to the Houston Astros at the trade deadline in 2013 before finding a home in Milwaukee when he was dealt again at the deadline two years later.
The southpaw will enter his second year of arbitration this offseason and lost his first case this past February, having to settle at $4.1 million whereas he filed at $6.4 million.
Yankees have talked to Brewers about Hader but no belief there’s any traction at all there yet. Yanks have checked in on Clevinger, too, but no belief anything’s close there either. There’s still tomorrow but there appears to be big gaps in talks for those two, at least.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 31, 2020
No stranger to the deadline, Hader was a subject of interest given his dominance out of the bullpen. According to Jon Heyman, teams such as the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees checked on the asking price of the lefty.
It’s remarkable how Hader has been able to keep hitters from finding a gap or an open hole. He has issued frequent walks and his 7.7 BB/9 is a career-high.
Nonetheless, Hader has been able to shut the door and allow just two runs to cross the plate en route to his nine saves, second in the National League.
Hader and the Brewers are in Cleveland for a three-game series this weekend.
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