It’s not just the position player prospects with Triple-A Norfolk who are impressing.
Orioles pitching prospect Chayce McDermott and two Tides relievers threw a combined no-hitter in Norfolk’s 2-0 win over the host Nashville Sounds (Milwaukee Brewers) on Friday night.
As Orioles lefty Cole Irvin and Reds fireballer Hunter Greene dueled in Cincinnati, McDermott was on a heater in Nashville. The right-hander took a perfect game into the seventh inning and struck out a career-high 11 batters.
TIDES TOSS A NO-NO!!!!!!!!@Chayce_mcd99: 6.2 IP, 11 K
Nolan Hoffman: 1.1 IP, 2 K
Kaleb Ort: 1.0 IPIt's the third 9-inning no-hitter in franchise history!
Tides win their 7th straight#RisingTide pic.twitter.com/l5pZE1Vs5B
— Norfolk Tides (@NorfolkTides) May 4, 2024
McDermott, who Baseball America ranks as the Orioles’ No. 2 pitching prospect, struggled to begin the season, allowing 13 runs in 21 1/3 innings with 23 walks. The 25-year-old was Baltimore’s Jim Palmer Minor League Pitcher of the Year last season after posting a 3.10 ERA in 119 innings with 152 punchouts.
But McDermott, whom the Orioles acquired in the Trey Mancini trade in August 2022, was as dominant as ever Friday. After striking out the side in the sixth, he walked his first batter — ending his perfect game — to lead off the seventh. He walked another with two outs to run his pitch count up to 96, causing Tides manager Buck Britton to take him out of the game, but the right-hander lowered his season ERA to 2.89.
Sidearmer Nolan Hoffman escaped the jam in the seventh and pitched a scoreless eighth. He handed the ball to right-hander Kaleb Ort, who retired the side in order in the ninth to secure the no-hitter. It’s the third nine-inning no-hitter in Tides history and the first since Chris Tillman no-hit Gwinnett in April 2010.
The last Orioles affiliate to throw a no-hitter was Double-A Bowie in 2023. McDermott also started that game, pitching five innings with four walks and four strikeouts. Hoffman also came in relief, pitching the next two innings before Easton Lucas slammed the door with two more clean frames.
Daniel Johnson’s sacrifice fly in the fourth and top prospect Jackson Holliday’s RBI double in the fifth provided all the offense Norfolk (16-15) needed to win its seventh straight, extending the club’s longest winning streak since July 18-25, 2018.
