Combined No-Hitter in Denver

Denver's Ben Gadsden and Troy Lewis combined to throw a no-hitter, beating the Charlotte Hawks 1-0 in Denver.

The only run of the game in the bottom of the third, when Michael Stewart singled home Adam Harris off Felix Cabrera.  Gadsden walked two in the 2nd, and 2 more in the 5th to put himself into jams, but was able to pitch out of them.  He found no trouble after the 5th, retiring the last 11 batters faced.

"In the 8th, I was feeling a bit tired, but looking up at the scoreboard I knew I had a chance to do something special, so I resolved to give it all I had."  Aside from early control issues, Gadsden had a lot of bite on his sinker, and got 12 groundball outs to 6 flyball outs.  He did not have a big day for swings and misses, but in the 8th he struck out pinch hitter Cordell Younger and leadoff hitter Luis Garcia to end the inning.

"I knew I was tired, but I was prepared after a short rest to go back out there and complete it.  How many times do people throw no-hitters?  Some pitchers never get to do it, I may never have this chance again.  I was ready to give it all I had, and no way was I going to let the manager take me out, this was my ball game.  As our half of the 8th inning came to a close, Todd (Allen) saw me getting up and told me to sit back down.  I could not believe it!  I was about to jump up and fight for the ball when I felt a big hand on my shoulder.  It was the big jawa." (Troy Lewis, at 6'2 and a muscular 215 pounds, is not typical of his species.)  "I couldn't have gotten up no matter how hard I tried.  He just said "Son, don't you worry.  I got this." I did as I was told, we all respect the big jawa, but I was on edge as he went out to face the Hawks."

In the 9th, Lewis struck out Manuel Lugo and induced weak grounders to second base by Fausto Thibodeaux and Leo Hamilton. Just 10 pitches.  Gadsden raced out to the mound to join Lewis and catcher Cal Mathis in celebration.

"It was not an easy decision", said manager Allen. "He had pitched further into the game than he's used to, but beyond that I didn't have any margin for error.  It was a one run game. I would have liked to give Ben the chance for a no-hitter, but two things were more important to me, winning the game and protecting his long term health."

The game was the first official combined no-hitter in regular season history.  In 1992, Louisville's Ernie Klawitter and Aaron Pass combined for 9 2/3 no-hit innings against Orlando, though the game ended as a 14 inning one hitter. In that same season Las Vegas's Kyle Spencer and Kunta Kinte combined for a no-hitter (Spencer throwing the first 7 innings) in a pre-season game.