If you had been making a list of pitchers most likely to throw a no-hitter, Jake Walton’s name probably never would have come up in the discussion. The 31 yr old lefthander has had a less than stellar career up to this point. Yet on this night he victimized the potent Tampa Bay attack in a 112 pitch, 5 strikeout, 5 walk performance. The only time he got into trouble was in the eighth when he gave up back to back walks with 2 outs, but the threat was stopped when Mel Munoz grounded out to end the inning.
After throwing the first no-hitter of the season Walton has given the team hope that this may be a turning point to jump start his struggling career. It is not realistic to believe that Walton will be able to keep his ERA under 3.00 all year but for this one night he was the top pitcher in the league and no one can dispute it or take it away from him.
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