Many Spring Training games end in a tie after nine or ten innings, and Sunday's match-up between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros did just that. The Braves and Astros (split squad) played to a 2-2 tie after ten innings. However, the Braves pitchers added a little something extra: a no-hitter.
Cody Martin started with two innings, walking two and striking out three. After Martin, eight relievers pitched one inning each: Jim Johnson, Josh Outman, Brandon Cunniff, Ian Thomas, Mauricio Cabrera, Lucas Sims, Justin Jackson, and Jairo Heredia. Even though no one allowed a hit, the pitchers combined for nine walks and two Astros runs.
The Astros took a 2-1 lead when they scored on two RBI groundouts with Cabrera pitching. Cabrera walked Matt Dominguez and L.J. Hoes to open the inning. Joe Sclafani pinch ran for Dominguez, and he and Hoes each scored on separate ground balls from Ronald Torreyes and Nolan Fontana.
The Braves opened the scoring right away when catcher A.J. Pierzynski singled home Jace Peterson in the first. They tied the game at two in the eighth on Todd Cunningham's sacrifice fly. Neither team scored for the next two innings, and both managers agreed to call it then.
Peterson and Eury Perez each had two hits for Atlanta, and Freddy Freeman was 1 for 2. The Braves had seven hits in all.
For the Astros, Scott Feldman started and pitched two innings, allowing one run and two hits. He walked one and struck out two. Five Astros relievers held the Braves to five more hits through innings three through 10 with Jason Stoffel allowing the Braves to tie it in the eighth. Stoffel pitched two innings and gave up one run, one hit, one walk, and one strikeout.
On Monday, the Braves travel to the Washington Nationals, and Houston will visit a Toronto Blue Jays split squad. Both games will begin at 1:07 EDT.