Sheldon graduate Matt Manning becomes fourth Sacramento-area pitcher involved in no-hitter

The nutty thing about no-hitters is sometimes the guy on the mound doesn’t even know it’s happening.

And in this sport where superstition is as much a part of the game as balls and strikes, no one was going to rush over and remind him.

This was the plight of Matt Manning on Saturday afternoon in Michigan. The Detroit Tigers’ 6-foot-6 right-handed pitcher out of Sheldon High School was in his third start of the season after returning from the injured list, having missed 11 weeks with a fractured foot. The 25-year old delivered in his 6.2 innings of work in the first combined no-hitter in franchise history, a 2-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Manning was followed by relievers Jason Foley and Alex Lange in delighting a soggy crowd of 30,621 in just the 20th combined no-no in Major League Baseball history. There have been 320 no-hitters otherwise.

Manning is just the fourth pitcher who attended a Sacramento-area high school to be involved in an MLB no-hitter.

“Honestly, I swear, I had no idea,” Manning told reporters afterward of not knowing he was in the midst of history. “I was just trying to eat up innings. We had a two-run lead, so I was trying to protect that lead.”

In Manning’s hometown of Sacramento, his parents — Kristan and Rich — sat anxiously in their living room, taking in every pitch and every inning. They were nervous, uneasy, like expecting parents all over again.

“We were very excited, and of course we clapped and talked to the TV, but we didn’t even talk about the no-hitter because we didn’t want to jinx it,” Rich Manning said in a Sunday morning interview with The Bee. “We wanted to enjoy it, but it was a strange start.”

Rich was right. It didn’t look like a day for history.

Steady rain led to an 82-minute delay, and even when Manning finally took the mound, he endured a steady shower. He requested a new ball after every other pitch. He used a towel to keep his pitching hand dry.

“I don’t think he could feel the ball,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said afterward. “Even the umpire ran out and handed him one to try to avoid throwing it in the rain. And then the skies lifted, the sun came out, and it got more and more interesting as the game went on.”

That Manning gutted out a stiff back speaks of his drive. He explained later, “I was trying to pitch as long as I could.”

Manning retired 16 batters in succession before he yielded a walk with two outs in the seventh inning. Tigers fans booed when Hinch approached the mound. Hinch said he nearly took Manning out in the fifth inning, saying later, “He was laboring a ton.”

Instead, it became the best start of Manning’s career, which started with his first-round selection out of Sheldon in 2016. He is 3-1 this season.

Manning’s athletic roots

Among the soaked observers was Manning’s wife, Gigi. She went by Gigi Garcia before their November wedding, and like Manning, she comes from an athletic family big on ability and support.

Gigi was The Bee’s Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year in 2015 after powering McClatchy High to the CIF state Division I championship. She played on scholarship at Washington, gutting through knee injuries. Her father, Aaron Garcia, was The Bee’s Football Player of the Year at Grant in 1987 before quarterbacking Washington State and Sacramento State and setting career marks in Arena Football. He is the athletic director at Capital Christian High.

Rich Manning was The Bee’s boys’ basketball Player of the Year at Center in 1988 who went on to play at Syracuse and Washington and in the NBA. He has been a longtime assistant basketball coach at Sheldon. He and Aaron Garcia have known each other for more than 30 years.

Both sets of parents let their kids play as many sports as they wanted growing up. Manning was a Bee All-Metro guard at Sheldon who happened to throw 93-mph fastballs.

“Put him in everything and let them enjoy it and they’ll figure it out,” Rich Manning said. “All three of my sons (including Jake and Ryan) played different sports. They loved it.”

Rich and Kristan Manning spoke to their son and daughter-in-law after the historic outing.

“You can breathe again!” Rich told Gigi.

Sacramento’s no-no history

Matt Manning is the fourth Sacramento-area product to be involved in a no-hitter. A closer look:

1978 — Bob Forsch, St. Louis Cardinals: The Hiram Johnson High graduate beat the defending National League East champion Philadelphia Phillies 5-0, striking out three and walking two for the first no-hitter in Busch Stadium II. He got Phillies shortstop Larry Bowa of McClatchy High roots to ground out for the final out as former Cordova High great Randy Lerch took the loss for the Phillies. Forsch was a member of three St. Louis World Series teams, including the 1982 title team.

1979 — Ken Forsch, Houston Astros: Nearly a year after his brother Bob tossed his first no-hitter, along came this Forsch, who beat the Atlanta Braves 6-0 at the Astrodome. That Forsch started the game was a bit of a surprise as he was listed as questionable the day before due to an allergic reaction to an insect bite, turning his elbow into a swollen mass. Among those Forsch retired was Rowland Office of McClatchy and Jerry Royster of Sacramento High. An 18th round draft choice in 1968, Forsch won 114 MLB games and was a two-time All-Star.

1983 — Bob Forsch, St. Louis Cardinals: At 33, Forsch ignored the suggestion by his manager, Whitey Herzog, to go to the Florida International League in the offseason to refine his craft. Instead, Forsch beat the Montreal Expos 3-0 for his second no-no at Busch Stadium II, walking none and striking out six. Said his wife Mollie then, “I started getting nervous in the fifth.” A 6-foot-4 right-hander who was drafted in the 26th round of the 1968 draft, Forsch won 168 MLB games and also belted 12 home runs. He died in 2011 at 61, a week after he threw out the first pitch of Game 7 of the World Series in which the Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers.

1993 — Chris Bosio, Seattle Mariners: The Cordova product walked the first two Boston Red Sox batters he faced in the Kingdome, then retired the next 26 batters for the second no-hitter in franchise history. Bosio struck out four. The 6-3 Bosio won 94 games in a career that spanned 1986-96. He spent several years coaching in the bigs.

▪ Dallas Braden of Stagg High in Stockton played at American River College and tossed a perfect game for the Oakland A’s in 2010, a 4-0 win over Tampa Bay.