Madison Bumgarner’s No Hitter Not Officially Recognized, Ruled As a Shutout Instead

On Sunday, Arizona Diamondback‘s pitcher Madison Bumgarner threw a no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves for a 7-0 win.

While Bumgarner did throw a no-hitter, he officially did not. It was not recognized because the game was only seven innings due to the fact that it was part of a doubleheader. Instead, Bumgarner’s efforts are recognized as a shutout. The ruling comes from a 1991 decision in which then-commissioner Fay Vincent declared that no-hitters must span at least nine innings. The 1991 rule changed defined as a no-hitter as “a game in which a pitcher, or pitchers, gives up no hits while pitching at least nine innings. A pitcher may give up a run or runs so long as he pitches nine innings or more and does not give up a hit.”

While it was not officially recognized, the Diamondbacks sure did recognize and celebrated it as a no-hitter. “It counts in our book,” the team tweeted out.

In the post-game conference, the veteran pitcher dryly joked about his no-hitter not officially counting. “I want to thank these shadows in Atlanta they helped me out a good bit,” the veteran said. “That was awesome, and I want to thank Rob Manfred for making these seven-inning games.”

Fellow teammate Zac Gallen also had a no-hitter into the sixth inning before it became a one-hit shutout in the first game of the doubleheader. Gallen gave his thoughts about it not being a no-hitter. “It wouldn’t have counted, so that makes me feel better that it wasn’t actually a no-hitter anyway,” Gallen said. “The complete-game shutout, I guess, works. That’s fine. We won. It really doesn’t matter. That’s the most important part.”