Blanco flirts with 2nd straight no-hitter to open season

Houston Astros right-hander Ronel Blanco made one heck of a bid for history during Sunday's start against the Texas Rangers.

Six days after he threw a no-hitter, Blanco got the baseball world talking again by carrying another no-no into the sixth inning at Globe Life Field. His quest to match Johnny Vander Meer in the record books as the only pitcher ever to throw consecutive no-hitters ended when Adolis García ripped a clean single with two outs in the bottom of the sixth.

Blanco quickly recovered and got Evan Carter to end both the inning and his outing.

Though he once again didn't allow a run, Blanco's outing against the Rangers wasn't as smooth as his no-hitter. He struck out four batters but also walked four and threw 90 pitches over six innings compared to 105 in his no-no against the Toronto Blue Jays. He threw more than 20 pitches in the second and fifth innings despite not allowing a hit in either of those frames.

Blanco's 44 outs recorded before allowing his first hit are the most by any pitcher to start a season in the expansion era (since 1961), according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com. The previous record holder, Austin Cox, did it last season as a reliever.

Additionally, his 14.2 consecutive no-hit innings to start the year are the second-most by a starting pitcher since 1990, per ESPN. Blanco's the ninth starter to allow one or fewer hits in a 15-inning span since 1901 and only the third to do it in the expansion era, according to Langs.

García's hit means that Vander Meer, who pitched for the Cincinnati Reds, is still the only pitcher in MLB history to throw consecutive no-hitters. The left-hander no-hit the Boston Bees for Cincinnati on June 11, 1938, then did it again four nights later against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field.

Rafael Montero, Ryan Pressly, and Josh Hader relieved Blanco and preserved Houston's 3-1 victory.