Hill becomes 1st starter since Pedro to take no-hitter into extras

Rich Hill captivated the baseball world with nine innings of no-hit baseball Wednesday night - and though he couldn't finish the job, it still earned him a place in history with one of the best pitchers ever.

When Hill took the mound to begin the top of the 10th inning at PNC Park with his no-hitter still intact, he became the first pitcher to take a no-no into extras in 22 years. The last to do it was none other than Pedro Martinez, who threw nine perfect innings for the Montreal Expos in San Diego on June 3, 1995.

Like Hill on Wednesday, Martinez lost any hope of completing the perfect game right away, as Padres left field Bip Roberts broke up his perfecto with a leadoff double in the 10th.

But the Expos had taken a 1-0 lead in the top half, and after surrendering the leadoff double Martinez was replaced by Mel Rojas, who locked down the one-hit, 1-0 Expos victory.

Hill had no such luck, of course. After throwing nine no-hit innings he returned to the mound in the 10th - the first starter to pitch into extras since Philadelphia's Cliff Lee in 2012, per MLB.com's Andrew Simon - only to surrender a leadoff walk-off homer to Pirates second baseman Josh Harrison. Thus, Hill was saddled with the loss after allowing just one hit in nine-plus innings.

Related: Pirates' Harrison breaks up Rich Hill's no-hitter with walk-off HR in 10th inning

Thanks to a rule change by MLB in 1991, nine-inning no-hitters lost in extras are not counted as official in the record books.

The last starting pitcher to throw and win an extra-inning no-hitter by himself was the Reds' Jim Maloney, who no-hit the Cubs over 10 frames on Aug. 19, 1965.

Interestingly, the last no-hitter thrown by the Pirates also involved extra innings. On July 12, 1997, Francisco Cordova threw nine no-hit innings against Houston, before ceding to reliever Ricardo Rincon, who didn't allow a hit in the 10th. Pittsburgh then won the unique combined no-hitter in the bottom of the 10th on Mark Smith's three-run walk-off homer.