Trevor Williams found himself on the verge of baseball history on Easter Sunday. Then, the Pittsburgh Pirates starter found himself on the bench in what some would describe as an April Fools' prank gone terribly wrong.
Manager Clint Hurdle pulled his starter from Sunday afternoon's game against the Detroit Tigers, despite a historic six innings in the books. He was trying to protect Williams from himself, but he disrupted what would've been a historic afternoon for the Pirates in the process.
Williams no-hits through six
By no means was this the prettiest no-hitter in progress.
Through six innings, Williams had struck out just a single Tigers batter. He had also walked five Detroit players, flirting with disaster constantly. Yet he managed to force ten groundouts, including two double plays. Still, there was one stat more problematic than any other in the eyes of the Pirates manager: his 85 pitches through six innings.
Not damning, but putting Williams on pace for nearly 130 pitches.
Trevor Williams has a no-hitter through 6 innings, but he won't see the 7th.
— Chase Williams WPXI (@chasepwilliams) April 1, 2018
6IP, 5 BB, K (85 pitches, 42 strikes) pic.twitter.com/tGcObxQ3GF
So Hurdle took Williams out of the game, despite his no-hitter in progress. Reliever Michael Feliz came into the game and almost immediately allowed a double, ending the potential historic afternoon.
It was the second time in as many days a starter was pulled from a no-hit bid; Minnesota Twins starter Kyle Gibson also had one going through six innings. The difference? He was already up to 102 pitches on the evening.
That no-hitter was also vanished by a bullpen.
Did the Pirates make the right call?
Believe it or not, the Pirates have been in this exact position several times in their history.
According to one of the team's broadcasters, this was the third time the team pulled a starter after at least six no-hit innings, although Williams became the first victim of the early hook in nearly a half-century.
#Pirates starters pulled with 6+ no-hit innings
— Joe Block (@joe_block) April 1, 2018
Trevor Williams, today
Dock Ellis, 7/7/1968
Max Surkont, 8/7/1955
Baseball fans are justifiably enamored with history, and no-hitters fit neatly into that category.
There have been six no-hitters in Pirates history, with the most recent one coming in 1997. Having Williams achieve that feat on Easter Sunday would've been an incredible moment.
But time and again, pitchers have suffered from the debilitating effects of throwing a no-hitter, something baseball managers have become much more aware of in recent years. It was easier to pull Williams after six than after eight, where history would've been so close, but the Pirates starter may very well have been in injury danger.