Has any baseball game ever been won without a hit?

In baseball, a no-hitter is essentially as good as a pitcher or pitching staff can perform. Not allowing a single hitter to earn a hit through nine (sometimes more) innings is not quite perfect, but it's as close as most players ever get.

While it is an impressive and nearly impossible task, it does not always guarantee a win. Hitters can reach base without getting a hit in several different ways.

Many perfect games are lost because of walks. Sometimes pitchers hit the batter, which doesn't ruin a no-hitter. Errors occur as well, which can lead to baserunners without a hit.

As a result, teams can win games without recording a hit. It's happened six times in Major League Baseball history, with the most recent example coming in 2022.

There are a few different ways for teams to score without getting a hit and if their pitchers do well, it can sometimes be enough for a win.

For example, a batter may be walked and steals second. He can be moved over to third and scored on a sacrifice fly or he can score on an error from second. Wild pitches can move runners around without a hit, too.

It's incredibly rare, but it does happen. There haven't been all that many no-hitters in baseball history, but there have been even fewer no-hitters without a win.

Throwing a no-hitter puts a pitcher in an elite club, but doing so and losing puts them in a far more exclusive and less enjoyable club.

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Baseball's last no-hitter loss

In May, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Hunter Greene twirled seven no-hit innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. They elected to let him go back out for the eighth inning but he walked the first two batters.

Tampa Bay Rays v Cincinnati Reds

He had reached 118 pitches, so the Reds went to the bullpen. Art Warren came in and walked the next guy, so Pittsburgh had the bases loaded with no outs without a hit in the game.

A fielder's choice scored the run but they didn't get a hit or score again for the rest of the game. However, that run was all they needed as they won by a score of 1-0.