Like fans and pundits, it appears that not all former MLB starters are on the same page in regards to whether you should be credited with a no-hitter if you don't allow a single hit in a seven-inning double-header game.
Over the weekend, Hall of Famer Randy Johnson said that while he was impressed by Arizona Diamondbacks lefty Madison Bumgarner pitching seven hitless innings against the Atlanta Braves last month, he didn't consider it a no-hitter. Seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens respectfully disagreed.
"I mean, if it's seven innings, then it's seven innings. I think you gotta credit it, you gotta recognize the feat - if it's a complete game, then it's a complete game," Clemens told Tom Caron of NESN. "I get it, they talk about the same thing, I think a couple of the guys with 20 strikeouts pitched more than nine innings to get their 20. Who knows. I just wish they could across the board just unify some things so everybody is on the same page and they recognize some of these guys' records that are doing incredible things."
Clemens' point on inconsistencies in how we evaluate records is an interesting one. For his start against the Braves - which came in the first half of a double-header - Bumgarner was credited with a complete game, but not a no-hitter. Those two things seem to be at odds with each other.
A 12-time All-Star, Clemens also talked about how he twice struck out 20 batters in nine innings, but if a pitcher threw 10 innings in an extra-inning game and struck out 20 or more batters, their accomplishment would be treated the same on paper as his.
There's also the loophole that you get credited with a complete game if you throw all the innings of a rain-shortened game, as Hall of Famer Roy Halladay did in his final career complete game, which came in an April 2013 game that was called after seven innings. Halladay was credited with his 67th career complete game, which was treated the same as nine or 10-inning games he had completed previously. Heck, if you stopped every Halladay start after seven innings, he seemingly would have thrown a complete game in nearly every start for a decade.
As far as the no-hitter debate goes, Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe suggested over the weekend that baseball create separate categories for seven and nine-inning no-hitters. Of course, having a solution to this debate wouldn't be great for sports radio ratings.
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