On Friday, Tylor Megill pitched the first five innings, before Drew Smith (1 1/3 innings), Joely Rodríguez (one inning), Seth Lugo (two-thirds of an inning) and Edwin Díaz (one inning) finished it off. And, of course, the broadcast booth doesn’t appear in the box score, but it’s worth noting that the performance came on the 64th birthday of the Mets’ SNY play-by-play voice, Gary Cohen — who got cupcakes during the game and a no-hitter for extra dessert.
Here are nine stats and facts about the second no-hitter in Mets history:
• This no-hitter came 28 years and 237 days after the last one that Buck Showalter managed, thrown by Jim Abbott of the Yankees on Sept. 4, 1993. That’s the second-largest gap between sequential no-hitters managed, trailing only Connie Mack’s 29-year, 14-day gap, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The no-nos for Mack? One by Bullet Joe Bush on Aug. 26, 1916, for the A’s, and the other by Dick Fowler for the club on Sept. 9, 1945.
• The Mets entered the day with an MLB-leading .700 winning percentage. This was the fourth time in the divisional era (since 1969) that a team leading the Majors in winning percentage threw a no-hitter, according to Elias. The last time it happened was May 17, 1998, when David Wells threw a perfect game for the Yankees. The others were Juan Nieves for the Brewers on April 15, 1987, and Jim Palmer for the Orioles on Aug. 13, 1969.
• Friday’s no-hitter featured five Mets pitchers. There have been only two combined no-hitters that involved more pitchers, each with six: the Astros’ no-no against the Yankees on June 11, 2003, and the Mariners’ no-hitter against the Dodgers on June 8, 2012 — one week after Santana threw the first no-hitter in Mets history.
• The 159 pitches thrown in Friday’s no-hitter are the most for any no-hitter since pitch counts have been tracked (since 1988).
• The Phillies had just two batted balls with an expected batting average — based on launch angle and exit velocity — of .500 or greater: Didi Gregorius’ third-inning lineout (.500 xBA) and Jean Segura’s lineout in that same inning (.770 xBA).
• It was the fourth no-hitter at Citi Field, after Santana’s in 2012, Chris Heston’s no-no for the Giants on June 9, 2015, and Max Scherzer’s on Oct. 3, 2015.
• This was the 20th time the Phillies have been no-hit in their lengthy franchise history, which dates to 1883. That ties the Dodgers for the most times being no-hit of any franchise, including the postseason, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
• This was the second no-hitter caught by James McCann, who was also behind the plate for Lucas Giolito’s no-no for the White Sox on Aug. 25, 2020, against the Pirates.
• It was the first time Joe Girardi managed a team that was no-hit. He caught two no-hitters in his career: Dwight Gooden’s in 1996 and David Cone’s perfect game in ‘99. In 2006, Anibal Sánchez threw a no-hitter for Girardi’s Marlins. Girardi became just the fifth individual to manage a team that had a no-hitter, manage a team that got no-hit and play catcher in a game in which his team completed a no-hitter in his career, according to Elias. He joined Scott Servais, Jeff Torborg, Herman Franks and Wilbert Robinson.