Ten Important Players in Baseball's Tenth Combined No-Hitter

By Patrick

Beautiful

Yeah, that happened. The Seattle Mariners sent six pitchers to the mound last night and neither Kevin Millwood, Charlie Furbush, Stephen Pryor, Lucas Luetge, Brandon League, nor Tom Wilhelmsen allowed a hit to the best team in baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Truly, the Mariners won a team victory last night. In that spirit, here are the ten most important players from last night's monumental victory.

10. Chone Figgins: Figgy didn't start, didn't get a hit, and didn't come in until the eighth. So why does he make this list? For the play he made in the eighth to deny AJ Ellis what seemed to be a sure hit. Off the bat, every Mariner fan got nervous really quickly, but Figgy's speed allowed him to track the ball, as well did a great jump on the ball. Mike Carp lets that drop and the no-hitter ends. Great sub by Wedge and great play by Figgins.

9. Ichiro: With two outs in the seventh inning, Ichiro came to the plate. The Mariners had a no hitter, but they didn't have any runs to hold it up. Instead of just giving up against a lefty reliever, Ichiro did his job and put one of his signature slow rollers in play, beating it out for an infield single. He then stole second during and Dustin Ackley's at bat, and later scored the game's only run on Kyle Seager's RBI single. His hustle made the no-no possible.

8. Stephen Pryor: Sure, he struggled badly in the eighth, but don't forget his big strikeout of Juan Rivera with a runner on second and two outs in the seventh. He gassed Rivera right down the middle. Fearless, this Pryor kid. He also got the win in this game, becoming the third pitcher in baseball history to get his first MLB win in a no-hitter.

7. Charlie Furbush: Furbush maybe should be even higher on this list, since Wedge suddenly called him into action when Millwood went down to start the seventh. Furbush pitched well, and for all intents and purposes should have made it through the seventh if it wasn't for him throwing way wide of Justin Smoak on Elian Herrara's ground ball. Furbush struck out the NL's RBI leader Andre Ethier with a snappy slider, and took care of Dee Gordon as well. He also said "Go Mariners" in the post game press conference, and has therefore earned himself a spot as the new twitter avatar.

6. Tom Wilhelmsen: Something has to be said for the Bartender, who finished the game out. He kept Gordon, Herrera, and Ethier in the infield impressively, but wouldn't have finished the game without hits if it weren't for Brendan Ryan's incredible defense. He got the save though, and got to catch the "Montero-amotive" that jumped into his arms at the end of the game.

5. Brendan Ryan: Ryan played for three outs. He made two of them. The ball truly found him right away, and he made the signature defensive play in the no-hitter, as he made a desperate charge on a grounder and got Dee Gordon, the fastest man in baseball, by the slimmest of margins at first. Brendan Ryan will win a gold glove if he stays healthy and starts hitting above the Mendoza Line. He saved the no-hitter with his exceptional defense.

4. Brandon League: League played the biggest role of any of the relievers, as he entered in a brutal jam. With runners on second and third and just one out, League retired the red hot Ellis on a line out to Figgins and then fanned Tony Gwynn Jr. with a brilliant and ballsy splitter. For all of the crap League has experienced from fans and bloggers lately, he may have won back significant good graces by preserving the no-no last night. 

3. Kyle Seager: The Mariners would not have won last night, let alone completed a no-hitter, without the timely hitting and defense of Seager. In the fourth inning, Seager charged a weak tapper from Dee Gordon, and made a spectacular barehanded play to deny the speedster an infield hit. Then in the seventh, after he had squandered two two-on, two-out situations earlier, he delivered Ichirp with a base hit into left. Seager had the second-best defensive play and the best offensive play in the no-hitter.

2. Jesus Montero: He went one-for-four at the plate, but the reason he make this list if for the work he put in behind the plate. All every scout talks about with Montero is how he can't catch everyday and how he's a defensive liability. Well to all of those scouts, I submit last night. Not only did Montero call all nine innings of a no-hitter, but nobody stole second on him and he had zero passed balls or wild pitches. Plus, he seemed to enjoy the no-hitter more than anybody. While this will go down as a combined no-hitter, the one constancy was Montero, who worked with six different pitchers and called a hitless performance.

1. Kevin Millwood: This was Millwood's night. Six no-hit innings against the best team in baseball. Absolutely dominant. Plus, brilliantly efficient! 68 pitches in six innings. He could've gone ten innings! Probably not, but it's hard to deny that Millwood contributed more than any other player to the no hitter last night. He erased his recent poor form and dominated a great Dodger lineup. Last night doesn't happen without the efforts of Millwood and his newly discovered efficiency. What a night, what a game, what a win. In the words of Charlie Furbush, Go Mariners.