{"id":308720,"date":"2026-05-26T03:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T03:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/308720\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T03:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T03:45:09","slug":"houston-astros-throw-combined-no-hitter-in-9-0-blowout-over-texas-rangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/308720\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Astros throw combined no-hitter in 9-0 blowout over Texas Rangers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\" class=\"speakable\">The <a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_sports_article_main-content_article-body_6_5924691\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/mlb\/houston-astros\">Houston Astros<\/a> capped their fourth straight win with a no-hit shutout on Monday. Tatsuya Imai started and pitched six innings before relievers Steven Okert and Alimber Santa took over to keep the Texas Rangers hitless.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\" class=\"speakable\">The 9-0 victory marked the <a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_sports_article_main-content_article-body_6_5924692\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/mlb\">MLB\u2019s<\/a> first no-hitter since Shota Imanaga and two Chicago Cubs relievers combined for a 12-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in September 2024.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">The last complete-game no-hitter came in August 2024, when Blake Snell held the Cincinnati Reds hitless.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\"><a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_sports_article_main-content_article-body_6_5924693\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\">CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Tatsuya-Imai-Houston-Rockets-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Houston Astros starting pitcher Tatsuya Imai throwing a pitch during a baseball game.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Houston Astros starting pitcher Tatsuya Imai throws to the Texas Rangers during the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, on May 25, 2026. (Julio Cortez\/AP)<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">Imai went six innings in the 17th regular-season no-hitter in Astros history and fourth that was a combined effort. Houston also threw a no-hitter in the 2022 World Series when four pitchers combined against Philadelphia.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">Okert worked the seventh after Imai got 16 outs over the last 16 batters he faced. He walked three of his first four batters but benefited from a double play in the first inning before settling into a groove.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">Santa made his big-league debut in the eighth and retired all six batters he faced. His 24th pitch was a called third strike against Brandon Nimmo that ended it after an ABS challenge by the batter was confirmed a strike.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Houston-Astros-celebrate.jpeg\" alt=\"Alimber Santa being doused with water after pitching in major league debut\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Houston Astros pitcher Alimber Santa is doused with water after pitching in his major league debut and closing a combined no-hitter against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas, on May 25, 2026. (Julio Cortez\/AP)<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">The Rangers were held without a hit for the sixth time, the first since Corey Kluber threw a no-hitter against them for the New York Yankees on May 19, 2021.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\">CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">The 28-year-old Imai is in his first big-league season after coming over from Japan.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">Imai joined the Astros in January after agreeing to a $54 million, three-year contract. He was a three-time All-Star during eight seasons in Japan, and went 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA last season for the Pacific League\u2019s Seibu Lions.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s<a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_sports_article_main-content_article-body_6_5924695\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FoxNewsSports_\"> sports coverage on X<\/a>, and subscribe to<a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_sports_article_main-content_article-body_6_5924696\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/newsletters\"> the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Chantz Martin is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The Houston Astros capped their fourth straight win with a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[111540,111532,56,5513,58,57,154,111541,429],"class_list":["post-308720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-a-j-hinch","tag-blake-snell","tag-houston","tag-houston-astros","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-sports","tag-stephen-strasburg","tag-texas-rangers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}