The Houston Astros beat the Miami Marlins 8-2 on Monday night. Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara gave up six earned runs on nine hits in seven innings. Despite these facts, MLB Network's MLB Tonight still found an opportunity to run a "no-hitter alert" during Alcantara's outing.
The in-game look and graphic happened in the bottom of the 4th inning as host Greg Amsinger made the case that it was not too early to be talking about Alcantara's bid for a no-hitter.
"If you're sitting on your couch and rolling your eyes that we just ran that graphic," Amsinger said, taking aim at anyone who believes in jinxes. "A no-hitter alert? I can't believe they're doing that. It's so stupid. Why would you even mention it? If you think that we're impacting Sandy Alcantara in Secaucus, New Jersey... Man, therapy's not that expensive."
Then as Amsinger continued saying, "Look, you think he's going to give up a hit," Alcantara proceeded to give up a hit.
Here's that moment:
Keep in mind this happened with zero outs in the 4th inning.
The MLB Tonight panel immediately cracked up and Amsinger quickly changed his tune. "If you're sitting on your couch and you don't think we impact no-hitters, you don't know what the hell you're talking about."
Somehow it only got sillier from there. After retiring the first nine hitters of the game, the first four batters to walk to the plate in the fourth inning got a hit. The first out of the inning came on a fielder's choice that scored a run. By the time Yanier Diaz hit a two-run double, the Astros were up 5-0.
To be fair to Amsinger and MLB Tonight, the no-hitter alert is not something that the show takes 100% seriously. Last summer MLB Tonight ran a no-hitter alert before a game between the Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers. You may recall that Dodgers' starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto immediately gave up a home run to Jazz Chisholm on the very first pitch of the game to break it up, much to the delight of everyone.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as 'MLB Tonight' Runs Most Poorly-Timed No-Hitter Alert of All-Time.