Did Trevor Megill quietly just unfurl the most dominant stretch of relief pitching in Milwaukee Brewers history?
It certainly has to make the list.
Megill rattled off 10⅔ innings without allowing a hit before yielding a two-out single to Mike Yastrzemski of the Atlanta Braves on Aug. 21, giving him one of many “hidden no-hitters” in Brewers lore. Not only that, but the only baserunner Megill allowed in that stretch was an intentional walk in San Diego because he was pitching in extras and set up a double play with the automatic runner already on base.
The run of brilliance may have ended with the single but picked up anew in pulse-pounding fashion when Megill struck out Ronald Acuña Jr. for the final out of a 2-1 win with the tying run in scoring position.
Megill’s excellent run isn’t the longest without allowing a hit in Brewers history, but it’s close.
Here are some of the pitchers in Brewers history to collect a string of hitless innings equivalent to a no-hitter, including some names you’ll surely recognize, and some you may not.
Josh Hader, 12 innings, 2019
Perhaps the most dominant reliever in Brewers history, Hader has accomplished the hidden no-hitter more than once. In 2019, when he was still working multi-inning roles, he threw a stretch of 12 hitless innings over 10 appearances mostly throughout the month of June, racking up seven saves in the process.
Josh Hader, 11⅔ innings, 2020
The 2020 season won’t be remembered fondly for its abbreviated nature and the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Hader sailed smoothly through it, starting the season without allowing a hit through his first 12 appearances. And believe it or not, it was his teammate who won the NL Reliever of the Year nod that year.
Hader’s start didn’t last through the final stretch. He allowed a double in his 13th appearance, then a wild pitch and walk-off single to Cleveland’s César Hernández. He finished the year with a 3.79 ERA, a difficult number to really contextualize since he appeared in only 21 games over the 60-game season.
Derrick Turnbow, 11⅓ innings, 2005
From April 12 to May 5, Turnbow struck out 13 batters and did not allow a hit over 11⅓ innings. He walked six, hit a batter and threw two wild pitches, so it was an adventure. When the streak ended, it came via home run from future Brewer Aramis Ramírez, knotting a battle with the Cubs at 5-5 (though the Brewers won in the bottom half on an RBI single from Carlos Lee). Turnbow was just getting started. He saved 39 games that year and posted a 1.74 ERA, then earned a spot on the all-star team in 2016.
Teddy Higuera, 11⅓ innings (and then another 10⅔), 1987
It probably surprises no one that Higuera is on this list. In 1987, as Higuera was authoring the club-record 32-inning scoreless streak, he had a pretty good hitless streak going, too … and then another one.
Higuera didn’t allow a hit over the final 3⅔ innings of his 1-0, 10-inning masterpiece against Cleveland on Aug. 26, a game remembered for a walk-off single by Rick Manning that officially brought Paul Molitor’s 39-game hitting streak to an end. But that was just a jumping off point for Higuera, who then worked 7⅔ innings of hitless ball against Kansas City before Ross Jones tripled to break the spell. Higuera finished with a one-hitter. Over the stretch, he struck out 11 with two walks.
And yet, Higuera wasn’t done. He finished his next start Sept. 6 with seven hitless innings (a run started on a line-drive double play) to close out a two-hit shutout, and then went 3⅔ hitless to open his next outing for another 10⅔ innings of hitless baseball. He posted 10 punchouts and three walks before Alan Trammell finally broke through. The Brewers won again, 5-2, and Higuera worked a complete game.
Corbin Burnes, 11 innings, 2021
The Cy Young winner in the National League memorably threw eight no-hit innings on Sept. 11, 2021, in Cleveland, and when Josh Hader closed out the ninth, it marked the second no-hitter in Brewers history. Burnes also retired the final three men he faced in his previous start and opened the next start with with two hitless innings before Cubs pitcher Justin Steele, of all people, singled to break the spell.
Burnes allowed two walks and a hit batter in the stretch but also struck out 19.
Devin Williams, 10⅔, 2020
What about the Brewers pitcher who did win the Reliever of the Year plaudit in 2020, not to mention rookie of the year? Williams went eight hitless outings that covered 9⅓ innings from Aug. 16 to Sept. 5, racking up 20 strikeouts to just two walks in that span. Throw in another strikeout in his preceding outing and yet another in the follow-up before he permitted a two-out triple to Chicago’s Kris Bryant (and then struck out Anthony Rizzo to end the threat). The Airbender was just getting started as Williams finished with a 0.33 ERA in 27 innings.
Bill Krueger, 10⅔ innings, 1989
This may not be a name you expected to see.
Krueger’s work was accomplished over three extended relief outings and started dubiously, when he allowed four runs in the third inning to allow Detroit a 6-1 lead. But Krueger settled and worked five total innings that day (the final 4⅓ hitless), then threw four hitless innings 10 days later against Boston. With a capper of 2⅓ hitless against Toronto, Krueger finished with 12 strikeouts and two walks in his three August appearances.
Tyler Thornburg, 10 innings, 2016
Milwaukee traded Thornburg after his superb 2016 season that included this run of 11 games from May 14 to June 7, when he struck out 11 batters and walked two. Thornburg had another run of 8⅔ innings in 2016 and yet another of 8⅓. He was dealt to the Boston Red Sox in a package that returned Mauricio Dubón (now with the Braves) and Travis Shaw, but Thornburg struggled to stay healthy thereafter.
His 10-inning streak started in a game against the Padres, an extra-inning loss in which Carlos Villanueva got the save for San Diego. Which is serendipitous…
Carlos Villanueva, 10 innings, 2009
The middle reliever posted three holds and a win over nine games from May 18 to June 6. It started in a game against St. Louis in which Villanueva recorded four straight strikeouts after permitting a leadoff single. In all, he issued just one walk and struck out 17 batters.
Odell Jones, 9⅔ innings, 1988
Jones was pressed into duty for Higuera after he left with a back injury following the first inning. Jones, 35, worked the next five May 23, closing with 1⅓ innings of hitless ball. With Higuera still unavailable, Jones started the next game (his first start since 1981) against Cleveland and proceeded to work a no-hitter into the ninth, allowing a Ron Washington single with one down. Dan Plesac entered the game to close it out; it’s the closest any Brewers pitcher has come to a complete-game no-hitter aside from Nieves. Jones started only one more game that season (and in his career).
Nieves, by the way, had 9⅓ hitless counting his next start, but that’s hardly a “hidden” no hitter since he got the real thing along the way.
Francisco Rodriguez, 9⅓ innings, 2012
K-Rod struck out 10 and issued just two walks during a run from Aug. 12-30, but it ended with a bang. He entered the game against the Cubs with the Brewers ahead, 11-9, and after striking out the first batter he faced, the next five all reached. That included Alfonso Soriano, who delivered a walk-off single.
John Axford, 9⅓ innings, 2010
Axford struck out 12 from Aug. 28 to Sept. 25 with three saves. The streak started during a game in which a young Lorenzo Cain drove in the game-winning run in the ninth.
Chase Anderson, 9 innings, 2016
This is just over two starts, when Anderson finished his outing in Miami with six straight outs (oddly enough, the stretch began on a sacrifice fly) and then worked seven no-hit innings against the Cubs before Ben Zobrist doubled leading off the eighth.
Lary Sorensen, 9 innings, 1979
Sorensen took a no-hitter into the eighth before he lost it with one out July 5 against the Yankees on a Chris Chambliss single. Coupled with 1⅓ scoreless from his previous outing against Seattle, he had just enough for the hidden no-no. He finished the Yankees game with a two-hitter and 3-0 Brewers win.
Joel Payamps, 9 innings, 2024
Here’s another name you probably didn’t anticipate seeing.
Payamps didn’t allow a hit over the course of eight appearances (and 7 2/3 innings) in August. Throw in a couple outs in his final outing preceding the hitless run and a couple more after, and you get to exactly 9 innings before a single by Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn. Payamps, unfortunately, will be more remembered in 2024 as a pitcher who didn’t cover first base quickly enough in a crucial playoff moment against the Mets.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers ‘hidden no-hitters’ include Hader, Higuera and … Krueger?
Reporting by JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
