Max Scherzer 2012 No-Hitter vs Twins

Lore & Background

The irony was not lost on anyone in the stands. Just a year earlier, Scherzer had been a Twin, a hard-throwing right-hander who had been dealt to Detroit in the 2011 offseason as part of a trade that sent Jhonny Peralta and a prospect to Minnesota. Now, in his second season in the Tiger uniform, he was erasing every memory the Twins had of him. The crowd at Comerica Park, a mix of die-hard Tiger faithful and curious onlookers, settled in for what they hoped would be a routine afternoon. They had no idea they were witnessing history.

In Their Own Story

The afternoon sun hung low over the Detroit River, casting long shadows across the warning track at Comerica Park. The stands were a patchwork of orange and blue, the air thick with the smell of hot dogs and the low hum of a crowd that sensed something different. Scherzer stepped to the rubber, rolled his shoulders, and delivered. The Twins lined out, popped up, struck out. Inning after inning, the scoreboard ticked forward and the Twins' column stayed frozen at zero. By the seventh, the Tigers had finally broken through, and the stands erupted in a roar that rolled off the concrete walls. In the ninth, Scherzer faced the last three men, each one a small ceremony. The final swing, the final catch, the final out—and the crowd at Comerica Park, a ballpark that had never before seen a no-hitter, lost its mind. Scherzer raised his glove, the Tigers mobbed him on the mound, and for one long, golden moment, the city of Detroit belonged to a 26-year-old who had once worn the purple and blue of the team he just erased.

Reader's Guide

June 17, 2012. Comerica Park. The Twins lineup steps in, and for the first four innings, the scoreboard tells a quiet story: 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0. Scherzer works deep into counts, his fastball finding the corner with a sharp, almost violent snap. The Twins swing at balls, foul off sliders, and pop up to the shortstop. The crowd is polite, curious, not yet certain what they are watching.

Then the seventh. The Tigers load the bases and drive in two runs, the first they have scored all afternoon. The noise in the stands shifts from anticipation to celebration. Scherzer, hearing it, rolls his shoulders and goes back to work. The Twins' best hitter steps in, takes a 3-1 count, and swings through a fastball. Strike three. The crowd exhales.

The ninth is a procession. Three batters. Three outs. The last man fouls a slider for a 3-1 count, then swings and misses. The catcher catches the ball, and the mound is immediately swarmed. Scherzer, still in his uniform, looks up at the stands and raises his glove. The roar that follows is not polite. It is Detroit, a city that has waited a long time for a moment like this, finally letting go. The scoreboard reads 3-0, and the Twins' line, from top to bottom, is a column of zeros and X's. It is, in every sense, perfect.

Did You Know?

• Scherzer had been traded from the Minnesota Twins to the Detroit Tigers in the 2011 offseason, making this no-hitter a personal statement against his former organization.
• It was the first no-hitter ever thrown at Comerica Park, which opened in 2000, meaning the ballpark had been standing for 12 years before this game.
• At 26 years old, Scherzer was still early in his career; this no-hitter would be the first of several career milestones, including multiple Cy Young Awards and a World Series championship with the New York Mets in 2015.
• The Tigers scored only 3 runs in the entire game, meaning the Twins' defense and the quiet nature of the offense made Scherzer's 27-for-27 performance the undisputed story of the afternoon.