Former MLB pitcher Al Leiter told Dan Patrick he can't imagine experiencing what Pittsburgh Pirates star rookie pitcher Paul Skenes went through in July. Seven innings amid a no-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers, Skenes was pulled out of the game by Pirates manager Derek Shelton. It made Al Leiter ponder what he would do in that particular situation.

Patrick asked Leiter how a younger version of Al would have conducted himself in Skenes' shoes the moment his manager called on the bullpen while making his way to the mound, via the Dan Patrick Show.

“I’ll tell you what, if Rene Lachemann, my manager on the Marlins pulled me there,” Leiter said. “He might’ve beat me up, but I would have not let him take me out of the game.”

Patrick laughed but Leiter was not kidding around.

“I’d just run out on the field,” Leiter continued. “It would be like Little League, they’d be coming out, and I’d start running out to center field, it’d be like Little League. No, you’re not taking me out.”

Leiter, a two-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion left-handed starting pitcher who played for the Toronto Blue Jays (1992, 1993) and Florida Marlins (1997), threw a no-hitter as a member of the Marlins in 1996. He now serves as a national baseball analyst for the MLB Network.

Al Leiter's signature 1996 no-hitter

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Al Leiter in action during the 1995 season at the Skydome.
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Al Leiter is happy MLB managers were a different breed during his playing days. Not being allowed to finish a no-hitter seven innings into a game was almost unheard of in the 1990s. Now, Skenes is one of four pitchers, including Chicago White Sox pitcher Ben Brown, Baltimore Orioles pitcher Kyle Brandish, and Atlanta Braves lefty Max Fried, pulled from a no-hitter in a game that was seven innings deep.
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“To this day I am so grateful for my manager Bobby Valentine, who kept me in games that gave me an opportunity to succeed or fail, and gave me moments of greatness,” Leiter said. “The opportunity to be great, whether it’s the 163rd game in 1999.”
Four MLB pitchers went through the same experience in 2023.
“But Bobby let me pitch a complete game shutout, the Game 5 World Series,” Leiter added. “I got 143 pitches against the Yankees in 2000 like those are moments that you just wouldn’t get. Now you’ve got a guy you know 73 pitches, he gives up a run and they take him out in the fifth inning.”
As baseball continues to evolve, it'll be interesting to see how many no-hitters we'll see between now and the foreseeable future.