Twins’ Francisco Liriano Throws A No-Hitter

The Minnesota Twins' Francisco Liriano threw a no-hitter Tuesday night, etching his name into history with a 1-0 win over the Chicago White Sox.

The 27 year old south paw needed 123 pitches to deny the Sox a hit according to Rick Gano, an AP sports writer.  While striking out two and walking six, Liriano threw the MLB's first no hitter of the year.  To date, roughly 270 no-nos  http://espn.go.com/mlb/history/nohitters have been tossed since 1876, including the seven by the Twins franchise (which includes their time as the Washington Senators).  With only 270 no-hitters in the past 135 years of the game, the accomplishment  is quite the feat for Liriano, whom Gano quotes on Sports.Yahoo.com as saying “I can’t explain it. I feel so nervous and so happy right now."

Liriano can give a big thanks to his defense which came up with three ground ball double plays and his new best friend, Jason Kubel, who homered in the fourth off of White Sox pitcher Edwin Jackson for the game's lone run. Jackson ended up being the hard luck loser going eight strong.  The scene for Jackson may be eerily familiar as he tossed a one to nothing no-hitter himself against the Tampa Bay Rays as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks last June 25th!