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Alimber Santa Makes History in His MLB Debut by Closing Out a Combined No-Hitter
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- Alimber Santa Makes History in His MLB Debut by Closing Out a Combined No-Hitter
(© Jerome Miron-Imagn Images)
Alimber Santa made his MLB debut on May 25 against the Texas Rangers , and a memorable one at that. The 23-year-old closed out the final two innings of a combined no-hitter. His first career strikeout was the final out of the no-hitter. An amazing moment for the young pitcher.
So who is this new guy coming in with an exceptional debut?
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Alimber Santa is a 23-year-old right-hander from the Dominican Republic. His contract was selected by the Astros on May 22, just three days before his debut. His numbers at Triple-A made him a promising callup. Here is a look, per MiLB .
Alimber Santa - 2026 Stats
2026 MiLB (Triple-A Sugar Land): W: 4, L: 2, ERA: 1.42, G: 18, IP: 19.0, SO: 24, WHIP: 0.89
2026 MLB: W: 0, L: 0, ERA: 0.00, G: 1, IP: 2.0, SO: 1, WHIP: 0.00
It only took one game for him to make a historical mark on Major League Baseball. He became only the second pitcher in MLB history to pitch in a no-hitter in his major league debut.
He now joins Charles "Bumpus" Jones, who did it first on October 15, 1892 for the Cincinnati Reds against the Pittsburgh Pirates . I'll do the math so you don't have to, that was 134 years ago. Jones went the distance in that outing, making him the only pitcher in baseball history to throw a complete-game no-hitter in his first career appearance.
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Santa retired all six batters he faced, throwing two perfect innings. The no-hitter was the 18th in Astros history and the first in MLB since September 4, 2024. He combined with Tatsuya Imai (six innings) and Steven Okert (one inning) to complete the historic outing.
One of the biggest things Santa proved was that he can pull through under pressure. That was the ultimate high-pressure major league debut, and he delivered.
Here is the moment Santa sealed it.
A baseball from his major league debut is heading to the Hall of Fame because of that historic no-hitter. For a debut, it doesn't get much better than that.
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With Josh Hader nearing his return and Santa in the mix, the Astros bullpen should be the strongest it has been all season. Closing out games should be no problem if Hader returns to his typical performance and Santa continues to perform like he did Monday night.
