No-hitter in the context of "Porter Hodge"

In the game of baseball, the official scorer is a person appointed by the league to record the events on the field, and to send the official scoring record of the game back to the league offices. In addition to recording the events on the field such as the outcome of each plate appearance and the circumstances of any baserunner's advance around the bases, the official scorer is also charged with making judgment calls that do not affect the progress or outcome of the game. Judgment calls are primarily made about errors, unearned runs, fielder's choice, the value of hits in certain situations, and wild pitches, all of which are included in the record compiled. This record is used to compile statistics for each player and team. A box score is a summary of the official scorer's game record.

Newspaper writers initially performed this function in the early days of Major League Baseball (MLB). As the importance of baseball player statistics increased, teams began to pressure writer-scorers for favorable scoring decisions for their players in games played at home stadiums, and a home team scoring bias was perceived by many coaches, players, and writers. Controversies related to perceived bias or errors in scoring have led to questions about important baseball records, including several no-hitters and Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak of 1941. By 1979, many major newspapers decided to ban their writers from scoring baseball games due to conflict-of-interest concerns, and in 1980 MLB began to hire independent official scorers.

Clayton Edward Kershaw (born March 19, 1988) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), all for the Los Angeles Dodgers. A left-handed starting pitcher, Kershaw was an 11-time National League (NL) All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award winner, and 2014 NL Most Valuable Player. He is one of 20 pitchers and four left-handers to be members of the 3,000 strikeout club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history.

Kershaw was drafted by the Dodgers with the seventh overall pick in the first round of the 2006 MLB draft. He worked his way through the Dodgers' farm system and reached the majors at age 20 after one season. In 2011, he won the pitching Triple Crown and the NL Cy Young Award, becoming the youngest pitcher to accomplish either of these feats since Dwight Gooden in 1985. Kershaw pitched a no-hitter on June 18, 2014. He was on the roster of the 2020 and 2025 World Series-winning teams and received a ring from the 2024 team, missing the postseason due to injuries.

Shōta Imanaga (今永 昇太, Imanaga Shōta; born September 1, 1993), nicknamed "The Throwing Philosopher", and "Mike Imanaga II" is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars from 2016 to 2023. Imanaga is a two-time NPB All-Star and he led the Central League in strikeouts in 2023 before signing with the Cubs during the 2023–24 offseason. In his first season as a Cub, Imanaga was an All-Star.

On September 4, 2024, Imanaga pitched a combined no-hitter with relief pitchers Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge. The game, which was against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field, was the first no-hitter to be thrown at Wrigley by the Cubs since Milt Pappas no-hit the San Diego Padres in Chicago 52 years and 2 days prior, on September 2, 1972.