From a dream to reality: The historic night of Pavel Hernández
Before preparing to wind up his 122nd pitch of Tuesday night at the Latinoamericano stadium, Pavel Hernández signaled to his catcher Oscar Valdés.
Hernández framed the strike zone, announcing that he would challenge his opponent again. He placed the glove on his chest, to prepare her grip on his lethal weapon. The next pitch was another fastball, and Yordan Manduley hit a weak grounder to shortstop.
History was written: Pavel Hernández achieved the No-hitter in the 7-0 success against the Holguín Cubs, ending a dominant night where he exhibited the brilliance of the ace that Industriales' starting rotation needs in this 63rd National Series of the Cuban baseball. When shortstop Ángel Alfredo Hechevarría fielded Manduley's grounder and threw the ball toward first base, Pavel's emotion was uncontrollable.
The first reaction of the 6'5'' tall giant was to take a leonine leap in front of the mound, and then hug his battery mate, catcher Oscar Valdés. But that was just the beginning of the celebration around the mound, where all the players and coaches of the Industriales team went to congratulate Pavel Hernández.
That affection from his teammates will be recorded in the history of No-hitter number 66 in the National Series, as will the name of Pavel Hernández among the honorable club of the six pitchers who have signed the feat wearing the Industriales uniform:
1. Jesus Perez
Stadium: J. Diaz, Artemisa, Sunday, January 7, 1968: Industriales 5, Vegueros 0
2. Andrés Liaño
Stadium: Latinoamericano, Tuesday, February 4, 1969: Industriales 8, Pinar del Río 0
3. Rigoberto Betancourt
Stadium: Latinoamericano, Wednesday, January 7, 1970: Industriales 1, Oriente 0
4. Ángel Leocadio Díaz
Stadium: Latinoamericano, Saturday, January 16, 1982: Industriales 2, Holguín 0
5. David Mena
Stadium: Augusto César Sandino, Tuesday, September 19, 2017: Industriales 2, Villa Clara 0
6. Pavel Hernández
Stadium: Latinoamericano, Tuesday, May 7, 2024: Industriales 7, Holguín 0
There are two interesting stories to highlight here. The first: as you can see, it had been 42 years since an Industriales pitcher had not achieved a No-hitter pitching in the Latinoamericano stadium. Before Hernández, it had been Ángel Leocadio Díaz, and coincidentally he also beat a team from Holguín. However, the No-hitter announcement was not made official that Saturday, January 16, 1982. What was the reason? A day later, the Official Scorer considered that the only hit was undeserved, and charged an error to the Blues' third baseman, Rolando Verde.
The second of the strange but true cases was the No-hitter of right-hander David Mena, who pitched just five innings in the 2-0 victory against Villa Clara. Industriales came out ahead on the scoreboard and the weather conditions prevented the game from extending beyond the fifth inning. I remember I wrote a column about my opinion regarding recording No-hitter with less than nine innings. I was one of those who categorically opposed it. I still think mistakes like that should be rectified for obvious reasons: 15 outs is only 56% of a true No-hitter of at least 27 outs. The files remain identical. In fact, only four of the last 10 No-hitters have been validated with nine innings, including Pavel Hernández's dominant hit last night against the Holguín Cubs. Let's hope that the statisticians of the National Series reflect on all this and finally there are corrections.