Tuesday Night was a special one down in Maryland for Ex-Mets pitcher Robert Stock as he threw the second no-hitter in franchise history as he led the Long Island Ducks to a 4-0 victory against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.
Stock’s no-hitter comes a little more than 22 years after Rod Henderson threw one during a home game on May 25th, 2001 against the Atlantic City Surf. He finished the game with six strikeouts while walking three batters and allowing no hits through all nine innings.
“I didn’t even realize until the fourth inning.” said Stock, “I realized then that I had no hits and went from there.”
This isn’t the first time Stock has flirted with a no-hitter during as a pro, he pitched seven innings of no-hit baseball in Korea last year before he was pulled from the game due to a high pitch count. Contrary to his previous bid he had overseas, he was able to keep his pitch count under control and his coaches let him go all nine innings.
“My pitch count was more under control this time around,” said Stock, “I felt under control. I was getting ahead early in counts and it allowed me to go deeper into the game.”
Stock had a dominant stretch early on that fueled his no-hit bid; He allowed his first base runner in the third as he would surrender a leadoff walk to KC Hobson. He would then proceed to retire 14 Blue Crabs in a row.
“I didn’t have all my stuff working,” Stock said about his pitch mix and his key to keeping Southern Maryland off the base paths. “I did notice that my fastball was working well, especially when I would throw it inside to lefty hitters, and it led to a lot of easy outs that my teammates in the field could make.”
The 32 year old from Washington State came out in the ninth inning with a 4-0 lead and three outs from rewriting the history books. He still hadn’t allowed a hit despite allowing one man to reach on a walk.
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LI Duck's pitcher Robert Stock
Eric Wilcox / liducks.com
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Fortunately for Stock and the Ducks, he would induce a ground ball to second base that resulted in a game ending 4-6-3 double play, giving the Ducks the victory and etching his name into the history books.
“It’s hard to rank this performance,” said Stock. “All my other accomplishments like getting drafted, making my big league debut, and playing in Korea were all very special to me. I also feel that pitching a no-hitter in the Atlantic League is a special moment in my career so far.”
Stock joined the Ducks in June after previously pitching for the Milwaukee Brewers Triple-A Affiliate and after he impressed some Major League teams with a solid year in the Korean Baseball Organization in 2022. He now has an 5-1 record since joining the team, posting a 4.08 earned run average across 39.2 innings pitched at the time of this article being written.
The Long Island Ducks have had a very successful season up to this point. They are already guaranteed a playoff spot as they clinched first place for the first half of the season and are hoping to win their fifth Atlantic League Championship in franchise history.