BRADENTON, Florida—Seven Orioles pitchers combined on the team’s first no-hitter in spring training history. Zach Eflin, Gregory Soto, Yennier Cano, Cionel Pérez, Bryan Baker, Roansy Contreras and minor leaguer Riley Cooper shut down the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 before 7,568 at LECOM Park on Saturday.
Eflin, getting ready for his Opening Day assignment on Thursday, threw three hitless innings, walking one. Soto walked two in the fourth, but Cano, Pérez, Baker, Contreras and Cooper recorded 15 consecutive outs.
“Pitching is pitching, so I just went in there and did my thing,” Cooper said.
There were two close calls in the final two innings. Leading off the eighth, Pittsburgh’s Bryce Johnson lined a ball to center that Enrique Bradfield Jr. ran down. Aaron McKeithan hit a ball off Cooper’s foot that second baseman Liván Soto deftly fielded and threw to first for the first out of the ninth.
Cooper, a 13th round draft choice in the 2023 draft, struck out Jase Bowen and Matt Gorski to secure the no-hitter.
Entering the game, Cooper had no idea that he was in a position to close out a no-hitter. He’d never been part of one in high school or college.
“I didn’t know until right before I went in,” Cooper said. “I felt it a little bit at first. Once I started warming up, I felt good.”
It wasn’t a teammate who told him, but one of the many Orioles fans, who traveled to Bradenton for the game, let him know.
“Keep the no-hitter,” the fan yelled. “I was like: ‘Let’s get it,’ and I went in and just pitched.”
“I can’t remember another one,” manager Brandon Hyde said about the spring training no-hitter. John Means pitched the last regular season no-hitter for the Orioles on May 5th, 2021, Hyde’s only as a major league manager.
“Really cool the way we pitched. I thought we did a lot of good things in the game,” Hyde said.
“Never seen a spring training no-hitter before, I don’t think. It was a great experience for all the guys on the field. Everybody was aware what was going on. To be part of something where it’s a little bit more than a game, that’s a good experience for all these guys.”
There wasn’t a raucous celebration following the game, as there would have been during the regular season.
Hyde said he realized the Orioles hadn’t allowed a hit in the fifth or sixth inning.
“Soto got two quick outs and a couple of walks, and I was frustrated at that point,” Hyde said. “Cionel threw a good inning, and Bake threw a good inning, and I looked up, and we hadn’t given up a hit, yet.”
Hyde allowed pitching coach Drew French to pick the pitcher for the ninth. The Orioles brought seven extra pitchers from minor league camp, and Cooper, a teammate at LSU of last year’s National League Rookie of the Year, Paul Skenes, who started the game, was French’s choice.
Last season, Cooper was 5-4 with a 3.07 ERA for Single-A Delmarva, a year after LSU won the College World Series. He said the experience reminded him of Omaha.
“Pretty close. I got a little nervous halfway through,” Cooper said. “The crowd started to get a little crazy. That was fun.”
The Orioles scored three runs in the seventh and a run in the ninth. Bradfield stole three bases and scored two runs.
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