Snell no-hits El Paso despite run

Three of the top pitching performances of the season -- including two no-hitters -- occurred within the span of a couple of weeks this summer. Let's take a look at each one, chronologically.

Hillsborough beat El Paso, 6-1, at home on July 25. Lefty Blake Snell (7-3) got the win as he struck out 11 and walked 2. Given the final score it might be easy to miss that he also threw a no-hitter.

The Chihuahuas put up a run in the 4th without the benefit of a hit. Yoan Moncada reached on an error by shortstop Gleyber Torres, took second when Freddy Galvis walked, and reached 3rd after an Alex Bregman fly ball to right. Snell then uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Moncada to score before he struck out Ron Acuna and got Chris Dickerson to pop out to the catcher to end the 4th -- still with no hits allowed.

It's the 22nd in league history, the first this season, and the first since Vancouver's Aaron Nola did it in June 2018 -- also against El Paso. Snell tossed 122 pitches, 75 for strikes (.615), including a wild pitch. The 26-year-old racked up a Game Score of 94, second at the time only to a 95-point effort by teammate Justin Verlander in May.

The Hit Men gave Snell a lead early. Aaron Hicks led off the game with a walk and two batters later, Lucas Duda hammered a two-run homer. Eddie Rosario slammed a three-run shot in the 3rd to extend the lead to 5-0 and added a 9th-inning double for the Hit Men's 6th run. El Paso's Nick Pivetta struck out 7 batters around the Rosario homer and finished with 14, matching what at the time was a league high for the season. He took the loss (4-7), yielding 5 runs on 4 hits over 7 innings while walking 2.

Hillsborough finished with 6 runs on 6 hits, and 1 error, leaving 3 men on base while El Paso had the 1 run and 1 left on base, with 1 error.

It was the third no-hitter in Hillsborough history, the most by any franchise in the DMBL, but the first in franchise history that was not a combined effort. The Hit Men's last no-no was in 2017 when Joe Musgrove and Hunter Cervenka combined to shutdown Sardine City.