Cardinals Tink Hence, Jose Moreno and Roy Garcia combine for No-Hitter

They say three is the magic number, and the third time is the charm.

Three Palm Beach Cardinals pitchers each tossed three innings on Wednesday and combined for a no-hitter over the Clearwater Threshers at BayCare Ballpark.

Tink Hence, Jose Moreno, and Roy Garcia combined for a fitting 123 pitches on the afternoon, working around just four walks and a hit-by-pitch to hold the Philadelphia Phillies affiliate hitless in the Cardinals' 5-0 win.

Hence was the starting pitcher for Palm Beach, and struck out five of the nine batters he faced over three innings. Over five games in 2022, the 2020 Major League Baseball Draftee has an ERA of 0.60 and a 0.73 WHIP.

"First combined no-hitter in my career today, truly blessed to be a part of this day with my team," said Hence after the game.

"It was a big celebration. I mean, it was a day game, it was 100 degrees and we're on the road and the club's been playing good, and we pushed across a couple of late runs," manager Gary Kendall said. "So there was a lot of celebration. The team continues to play a little better than we had in the last month. We've started to turn the corner a little bit and compete better.

"He's a hard-throwing right-hander that has real good secondary stuff," the manager said about Hence. "Very mature, got good poise, and he prepares well; he takes to instruction. And he's just a special kid with a very special arm, and he's a solid baseball player."

The no-no is Palm Beach's third in its history, and its first since 2012, when Chris Corrigan tossed a perfect game on August 29th against the Charlotte Stone Crabs.

Jose Moreno would pitch the middle innings of the no-hitter, improving his season ERA to 1.96. He worked around a couple of baserunners in the fourth inning with a double play, while striking out a pair of Threshers. The 21-year-old Venezuelan took the win on Wednesday, his first of the year in 13 outings.

Garcia completed the no-no and collected a nine-out save, his third of the year. The Dominican Republic native was the only Beach Bird pitcher to work with run support on the day, after the Cardinals broke a stalemate in the seventh with four runs. After a one-out walk in the eighth, Garcia would retire the final five Threshers in succession to secure the no-hitter.

"He's got real good stuff. And the only thing that really gets him in trouble is pitching behind, and he gets pretty predictable after that because he has to throw his heater," the skipper said on Garcia. "So for him to get ahead and try to use all his stuff in an array of counts is what makes them effective, because he's got real good spin on his breaking ball and real good feel for his changeup."

Offensively, Jhon Torres opened the scoring with a solo homer in the seventh. Darlin Moquete drove in Leonardo Bernal later in the frame before Brady Whalen's two-run double made it 4-0. Bernal added an insurance tally an inning later with an RBI single to score Matt Chamberlain.

The Cardinals improve to 26-31 with the win, and 8-2 over their past 10 contests.

"It was just a good day," Kendall said. "Winning streaks are contagious due to good pitching, so hopefully we can continue that."

1,367 fans were in attendance for the 12:02 p.m. first pitch, under cloudy skies on the 88-degree day. Palm Beach takes a 2-0 series lead, with Game 3 set for Thursday night at 6:30 p.m.