NEW YORK - Cristian Javier kept sending the New York Yankees back to their dugout in short order, taming his often inconsistent control and thwarting the team with Major League Baseball's best record, most runs and preeminent power.
"We call him 'The Reptile,' because he doesn't show any emotion. It doesn't matter how big the stage," Houston catcher Martín Maldonado would later say.
On a sunny summer afternoon, the Astros' cold-blooded starter combined with Héctor Neris and Ryan Pressly on the first no-hitter against the Yankees in 19 years, pitching Houston to an improbable 3-0 victory Saturday. It's the first time this franchise has been no-hit since six Astros teamed up for one at the old Yankee Stadium on June 11, 2003.
New York entered 52-19, at .732 the best winning percentage ever for a team held hitless at least 50 games into a season. The previous high was the Oakland Athletics' .691 on June 11, 1990, when they were felled by Texas Rangers ace Nolan Ryan's sixth career no-hitter.
"The cold, hard truth is we got outpitched and outplayed," said Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole (6-2). "Magical day for them."
Javier (5-3), a 25-year-old right-hander without a complete game in 84 professional starts, was in the rotation because Jake Odorizzi is hurt. He lowered his ERA to 2.73 as he set career highs for strikeouts (13) and pitches (115), and he walked one batter in seven innings as he matched his longest start.
He walked Josh Donaldson on a full-count fastball with two outs in the first, then retired 17 hitters in a row until Donaldson reached again when third baseman Alex Bregman threw past first for an error on a one-out grounder in the seventh. Giancarlo Stanton took a called third strike and Gleyber Torres struck out swinging to strand Donaldson.
By the sixth, the Astros had adopted the superstitious dugout custom for a no-hit bid.
"The guys didn't come near me, and I didn't go near them," Javier said through a translator.
Javier began the seventh at 91 pitches. Astros manager Dusty Baker turned to pitching coach Bill Murphy early in the inning.
"Man, I got to make a decision here pretty soon between the personal and maybe him suffering for it," Baker recalled. "How many does he have left?"
"Well, about 15 pitches," Baker recalled Murphy saying.
Javier needed 24 in the inning, starting his last five batters with a ball after getting ahead with a strike to 12 of his first 18. Baker gave Javier a hug when he was done.
"In the bullpen today before the game, pitches were doing what I wanted," Javier said.
Neris walked two in the eighth, retired Joey Gallo on a flyout to the right-field warning track and got Aaron Judge to ground into an inning-ending forceout.
Pressly struck out Anthony Rizzo and Donaldson in the ninth, then retired Stanton on a game-ending groundout to third that sparked groans in the crowd of 45,076. It was his first outing since giving up a tying three-run homer to Aaron Hicks in a 7-6 loss Thursday night.
"I was pretty upset with myself and felt like I let the team down," said Pressly, who got his 15th save in 18 chances this season.
Houston players gathered near the mound for a brief celebration, and two-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander presented Javier with the ball from the final out.
In a matchup of the teams with the top two records in the American League - Houston improved to 45-26 - the Astros got the first hit in the fifth, and rookie J.J. Matijevic put them on the board in the seventh with his second MLB homer (and second hit) by driving a fastball from Cole into the second deck beyond right field. Jose Altuve homered into the second deck beyond left field in the eighth against Michael King, and pinch-hitter Yuli Gurriel added an RBI single off Lucas Luetge in the ninth.
"Yankee Stadium, day game. These are moments that you live for," Matijevic said.
Maldonado had guided four Astros pitchers through a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners on Aug. 3, 2019. This was even more special.
"My dad was here," he said. "Those are memories, they're going to last through all my life."
This was the third no-hitter of the season: five New York Mets pitchers combined against the Philadelphia Phillies on April 29, and the Los Angeles Angels' Reid Detmers pitched one against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 10.
Houston's 150 pitches Saturday were one fewer than in the 2003 no-hitter in New York and nine fewer than the Mets needed in April.
The Yankees, who lost consecutive games for the first time since May 28-29 against Tampa Bay, struck out 15 times. They were no-hit for just the eighth time in club history, and they haven't been dominated in that manner by a franchise other than Houston since 1958.
The Astros pitched their 14th no-hitter, with this the first since Verlander against the Toronto Blue Jays on Sept. 1, 2019.
"We'll just see how we answer in the next few days," Yankees catcher Jose Trevino said. "There's no certainties in baseball."