The Houston Astros have gotten great innings out of Ronel Blanco so far this season, as he followed up on his no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays with six innings of one hit ball against the Texas Rangers on Sunday Night Baseball, and he made history with the outing.

Ronel Blanco is the only MLB pitcher in the modern era to throw 15.0+ innings and allow no more than one hit over his first two starts of the season, according to OptaSTATS on X.  Following throwing a no-hitter against the Blue Jays, Blanco took another no-hitter into the sixth inning, and got two outs before surrendering his first hit of the season to Adolis Garcia with two outs in the inning. It was a ground ball single up the middle that got past a diving Jose Altuve.

It was not a hard-hit ball that Blanco gave up to Garcia, but it was just enough to get through for a base hit to break up the no-hitter. It would have been incredible if Blanco was able to pull off a second-straight no-hitter to begin the season, but that was not in the cards.

Still, the Astros were able to come out with a 3-1 win to move to 3-7 on the season.

Ronel Blanco helping keep the Astros afloat

It is early, and no one is ever out of it this early in the baseball season, but Blanco’s performance so far has been a godsend for the Astros. Houston started the season 0-4 by being swept by the New York Yankees. Houston followed up that sweep by winning two out of three against the Blue Jays, with the first game of that series being when Blanco threw the no-hitter.

Then the Astros went on the road to play the Texans Rangers in a four-game set, then lost the first two games by wide margins.

The pitching has not been good enough overall for the Astros in the early going. Blanco’s two starts have been refreshing for the Astros. He helped them win Game 3 of the series tonight, and the Astros will try to split the series with a win on Monday.

Houston will turn to Framber Valdez and try to beat Rangers starter Andrew Heaney.

While the Astros are by no means out of it, even if they lose on Monday, they do want to dig too much of a hole in April. Houston should get some help in the rotation in the form of Justin Verlander and Luis Garcia at some point. It will be interesting to monitor both of their statuses.

Justin Verlander is closer to return, as he is on a rehab assignment. Luis Garciia is on the 60-day injured list.

It will be worth monitoring the status of the Astros’ pitching staff throughout the season.