Texas Rangers left-hander Jacob Latz has a no-hit start this season, setting a franchise record over nine innings in his first five appearances.
Opposing hitters were 0 for 28, one batter more than 27 outs needed for a full game, against the pitcher who turned 30 on Wednesday.
The 66-season franchise's previous record for consecutive hitless batters to start a season had been Yu Darvish retiring the first 26 batters in his first start in 2013 at Houston. Marwin Gonzalez ended Darvish’s bid for a perfect game with a two-out single up the middle with two outs in the ninth inning.
Latz retired all six batters he faced over two innings in the Rangers' 3-2 win over Seattle on Tuesday night.
"We knew he was going to be on the team, we just didn't know what role it was going to be," new Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said Wednesday. "We still think he can be a starter. I mean there's no doubt at it, but the way our roster was looking like and being constructed, we were going to use him in very valuable situations."
Latz has started 10 of his 88 big league games, including his debut in 2021. His latest start was four no-hit innings in the second game this season, when two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom was a late scratch because of neck stiffness. Latz has since made four relief appearances.
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Retiring 28-straight batters is surprising at any time for nearly any pitcher, but for Latz right now, especially. The Rangers' rotation was already full – in addition to deGrom, the Rangers feature Nathan Eovaldi, acquired MacKenzie Gore from the Nationals this offseason, and have both Kumar Rocker and Jeff Leiter at the back-end – but Latz didn't help his case much during spring training, as he produced an 8.04 ERA over six appearances and five starts while allowing three home runs and 10 walks in 15.2 innings.
However, the southpaw pitched well both as a starter and reliever in 2025: in eight starts, he produced a 2.72 ERA while opponents hit .206/.285/.338 in 39.2 innings, against 2.93 and a .236/.320/.368 line in relief.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
