Houston Astros star pitcher reveals thoughts after being pulled during no-hitter

The Houston Astros have Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez at the top of their rotation, but this season, every time they need a big win, it seems like Ronel Blanco is the one to get it.

The 30-year-old entered this campaign relatively unknown.

He had only pitched 24 times in the Majors in 2022 and 2023, posting an ERA of 7.11 and 4.50 respectively.

It was revealed that he would be part of the starting rotation to start this season with Verlander and Jose Urquidy starting on the injured list.

Blanco took advantage of his opportunity, throwing a no-hitter in his first start of the year and eighth of his career, quickly putting him on the map as he was catapulted into the national spotlight.

On Sunday, the right-hander had the opportunity to do something truly incredible.

But, with another hit on the horizon in seven innings, manager Joe Espada decided to pull him after Blanco reached 94 pitches.

“That fifth inning, those three walks there, strained him a little bit. But a no-hitter for seven innings? That’s really good,” Espada said, according to MLB’s Brian McTaggart. com when asked about its decision to remove its holder. .

While it was certainly a good outing, it could have been special.

Only six pitchers in MLB history have thrown two no-hitters in the same season.

Had Blanco accomplished this rare feat, he would have joined Johnny Vander Meer, Allie Reynolds, Virgil Trucks, Nolan Ryan, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer.

But Blanco’s manager took it off his hands, sparking the new age debate about how starting pitchers are used in today’s game.

For what it’s worth, the Astros starter had a feeling he might be cut.

“I knew I threw a lot of pitches and I wasn’t going to be able to finish it, so I just accepted it,” he said.

This must certainly be a tough pill to swallow, knowing that they were only six outs away from doing something rarely accomplished twice in the same season, but from Houston’s perspective, they probably did the good thing.

With their playoff hopes dwindling with every loss they suffer, they can’t afford to lose Blanco who has been their best starter with a 2.43 ERA in 13 starts with the most innings pitched of this unit at 77.2.

From comments made by Blanco after the match, it seems like there are no hard feelings and he understands the decision that was made, but it’s still disappointing that he wasn’t able to go on location and continue the story once more.