Matt Manning 'had no idea' he was throwing no-hitter for Detroit Tigers when exiting game

There have been 320 no-hitters in MLB history.

Three hundred of them were accomplished by a single pitcher. Twenty of them, the most recent being the Detroit Tigers, were accomplished by at least two pitchers.

A historic game started with right-hander Matt Manning — the No. 9 overall pick in the 2016 draft — in Saturday's 2-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Comerica Park, with 30,621 fans in the stands. It was his third start since returning from the injured list after missing 11 weeks due to a right foot fracture.

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"Honestly, I swear I had no idea," said Manning, who completed 6⅔ innings without allowing a hit. "After I had a scuffle in the first (inning), I was just trying to eat up innings. We had a two-run lead, so I was trying to protect that lead."

The day started off with frustration for Manning. There was an 82-minute delay because of inclement weather, but when the 25-year-old took the mound, he was forced to pitch through steady rainfall.

He asked for a new baseball after every other pitch.

He slipped a couple of times.

He wiped his hands with a towel as part of a brief on-field delay.

The playing conditions were miserable.

"I don't think he could feel the ball," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. "Even the umpire ran out and handed him one to try to avoid throwing it in the rain. We knew the rain was going to lift, but we didn't know exactly how it was going to hit us. ... And then the skies lifted, the sun came out and it got more and more interesting as the game went on."

That's because Manning kept the game interesting, historically speaking. He stranded Bo Bichette (hit-by-pitch) and Brandon Belt (walk) with three outs in a row against Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Matt Chapman and Cavan Biggio.

Biggio struck out looking at a down-and-in 93.5 mph fastball.

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The rain passed by the start of the second inning. At that point, Manning — armed with a 2-0 lead from the Tigers' Riley Greene-led offense — began landing his slider and curveball for strikes inside the strike zone to complement his elite fastball.

"When Matty was shaking a little bit, obviously, he had a better feel for his breaking ball right away," said catcher Eric Haase, also behind the plate for Spencer Turnbull's no-hitter in May 2021. "Once he started landing them, it was really in his hands.

"He did a really good job of throwing a lot of breaking balls behind in counts, sliders to finish guys and heaters late, freezing a lot of guys on heaters. That's a great sign when you do that to good hitters."

Fighting through pain

In the second inning, Manning tweaked something in his side while on the mound and didn't feel comfortable for the remainder of his start. The trainers in the dugout examined him between innings with what Hinch described as back stiffness.

But Manning didn't back down.

"I was trying to pitch as long as I could," Manning said.

"Once he could feel the ball a little better, I thought he landed his pitches exceptionally well and threw a ton of strikes," Hinch said. "He sprayed every now and then, and he probably needs to spray just enough for them to be uncomfortable."

After Whit Merrifield's walk, Daulton Varsho lined a ground ball with an exit velocity of 98 mph to third baseman Zach McKinstry in the second inning. McKinstry, who returned to the infield from the outfield recently, knocked down the ball and threw to first for the first out.

There were other crucial defensive plays, such as when Manning caught Merrifield trying to steal third base for the second out in the second inning.

Or when right fielder Kerry Carpenter completed a sliding catch in foul territory for the first out in the fourth inning. Or when McKinstry made a diving stop on a bullet from Matt Chapman, which had a 100.9 mph exit velocity, for the second out in the fourth. Or when shortstop Javier Báez ran from the infield to track down a 238-foot flyout for the second out in the sixth.

Center fielder Jake Marisnick, known for his defense, tracked down three of the final six outs.

"We played great defense behind him, both in the infield and the outfield," Hinch said. "There's a lot that went into a game to get to the 27 outs, and Matty being probably the most important because he's got to throw the ball first."

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Manning retired 16 batters in a row — following Merrifield's walk in the second inning — before Biggio worked a six-pitch walk with two outs in the seventh inning. The walk chased Manning from his start after 91 pitches.

Fans of the Tigers and Blue Jays booed Hinch during his walk to the mound. The Tigers were seven outs away from the ninth no-hitter in franchise history.

"I thought it was a bunch of Toronto fans," Manning said. "I know they're close."

Surprisingly, Manning says he didn't realize he had a no-hitter intact until pitching coach Chris Fetter told him upon his return to the dugout. Hinch, who let Edwin Jackson throw 149 pitches in a 2010 no-hitter, explained his decision to remove his starter despite the chance for a great personal accomplishment.

"My first responsibility is to him," Hinch said, referencing Manning's back stiffness and recent return from the injured list. "Sometimes, that doesn't always line up with what everybody wants to see in their head. He was laboring a ton. His stuff was getting worse. I almost took him out after the fifth. I almost took him out after the sixth. I sent him out for the seventh. As soon as the runner got on (base), the responsibility shifts to the game."

Right-handed relievers Jason Foley and Alex Lange completed the combined no-hitter with seven outs in a row, but Manning set the tone with an incredibly consistent mix of fastballs, sliders and changeups.

Manning, who threw 57 of 91 pitches for strikes, used 34 four-seam fastballs (37%), 30 sliders (33%) and 27 curveballs (30%). He generated five whiffs and 23 called strikes for a 31% called-strike-plus-whiff rate.

His fastball percentage hadn't been lower than 44.8% in a start this season before Saturday's outing.

"That's what I've been talking about for the last couple of starts," Manning said. "When I can mix those curveballs and sliders in the same at-bat, that's when I can get different shapes to get different flinches and swings. I think that's where I can be off the barrel of the bat a little bit more."

Manning overcame challenges for the best start of his career.

He led the Tigers to the history books.

"The no-hitter, combining with his teammates, there's going to be great joy with that," Hinch said, "but he finished his outing grinding. He had to really battle to be in the strike zone and started spinning off a little bit. ... He can hold his head up pretty high based on how he pitched against a really good offense."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Matt Manning had no idea he was throwing no-hitter for Detroit Tigers