For 45 years, no one had no-hit the New York Yankees. To break that streak, the Houston Astros needed a record six pitchers.
After ace Roy Oswalt was injured in the second inning, Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner finished off the 8-0, no-hit victory Wednesday.
"First appearance for most of us in Yankee Stadium," Wagner said. "What better place could there be?"
It was the most pitchers ever to combine on a no-hitter in the majors -- four had twice done the trick. The Yankees had gone 6,980 games -- the longest streak in big league history -- without being no-hit, since Hoyt Wilhelm's 1-0 victory for Baltimore on Sept. 20, 1958.
Since then, the proud franchise had won nine World Series titles and 15 American League pennants. But that all ended on a muggy late-spring night. The last time New York had been held hitless at Yankee Stadium was on Aug. 25, 1952, by Detroit's Virgil Trucks.
With Yankees' fans standing and applauding, Wagner pumped his fist as he stepped on first base to end it. Many the Astros ran onto the field to give high-fives while the Yankees couldn't clear out of the dugout fast enough.
"This is one of the worst games I've ever been involved in," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "It was a total, inexcusable performance."
Torre called it the low point for the Yankees since he started managing the club in 1996. New York dropped out of first place in the AL East, falling a half-game behind Boston, and Torre held a team meeting after the loss.
"Tonight was an ugly, ugly performance," he said. "Once things started snowballing, I think we lost our composure."
The closest New York came to a hit was in the fifth against Saarloos, when Alfonso Soriano sent a fly ball into short left field. Lance Berkman, who hit a two-run run homer in the third, ran in, stuck out his glove and made a tumbling catch.
"It wasn't that close," Berkman said. "It probably looked more spectacular than it really was."
Third baseman Geoff Blum made a barehanded pickup on Juan Rivera in the third ad threw him out at first.
"One guy usually goes out there and does it," Astros manager Jimy Williams said. "Maybe two, but not six."
Astros pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts, including four by Dotel in the eighth, which tied the major league record for an inning. Soriano reached when he struck out on a wild pitch.
Wagner struck out Jorge Posada and pinch-hitter Bubba Trammell to start the ninth. Wagner then got Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui to ground to first base with one pitch to complete the Astros' 10th no-hitter, the first since Darryl Kile against the New York Mets on Sept. 8, 1993.
This was the second no-hitter in the majors this season. Kevin Millwood pitched one for Philadelphia on April 27 against San Francisco.
And it came on the 65th anniversary of Johnny Vander Meer's first no-hitter. The only pitcher to throw consecutive no-hitters, he started that streak on June 11, 1938, for Cincinnati against the Boston Braves.
Overall, it was the third no-hitter in a game between AL and NL teams, and all of them have been at Yankee Stadium. The other two were perfect games -- Don Larsen did it against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 World Series and David Cone did it against Montreal on July 18, 1999.
Oswalt strained his right groin and left in the second. He looked toward catcher Brad Ausmus after his second pitch of the inning, his 23rd of the game, and immediately was replaced.
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