Nola's 6-inning no-hit bid is 24th of 2018, matching 2017 total

Major League Baseball is experiencing an extreme case of (near) no-hit fever.

Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola was the latest pitcher to flirt with history on Saturday when he no-hit the Toronto Blue Jays for 6 2/3 innings.

But Nola was unable to finish the job. His 113th and final pitch of the game was pulled for an RBI single by Blue Jays shortstop Russell Martin.

However, Nola still made a little history. His outing marked the 24th time already in 2018 a no-hitter was taken into the seventh inning. That matches the number of six-plus-inning no-hit bids in all of 2017, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

The surge in no-hit close calls comes during a season that's seen a significant increase in strikeouts. April was the first month in baseball history with more strikeouts than hits, according to Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal. But no-hitters have also been down lately, as only one was thrown during each of the last two seasons, following seven in 2015.

Three no-hitters have been recorded in the early going of 2018. Oakland's Sean Manaea blanked the Red Sox on April 21; four Dodgers pitchers combined to no-hit the Padres in Mexico on May 4; and Seattle's James Paxton threw a 99-pitch no-no against the Blue Jays on May 8.