Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, Nickeback’s “How You Remind Me”, and Rich Hill’s baseball career all have one thing in common: they all debuted in 2002.
Hill’s career has stood the test of time, but it looks as if Rich Hill’s illustrious career is coming to an end. The 45-year-old left-hander stated on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast that he doesn’t plan on playing in 2026. While he didn’t specify his retirement, it seems like he’s ready to move onto the next stage of his life. Hill made many stops throughout his career, donning 14 MLB jerseys, most recently the Kansas City Royals, and made a stop in Pittsburgh during 2023. While he may have suited up for the Bucs that season, his most memorable game in Pittsburgh was as a visitor.
On August 23, 2017, Rich Hill would have one of, if not the greatest game of his career. The Southpaw faced off against the Pirates that night, utterly dominating Pirates hitters. For the first eight innings of the game, Hill wasn’t just throwing a no hitter, but a perfect game. A hard-hit ground ball from Pirates’ shortstop Jordy Mercer to lead off the top of the 9th inning caused Dodgers third baseman Logan Forsythe to missplay the ball, resulting in an error that ended the perfect game bid, but the Dodgers escaped the jam with the no hitter still intact.
Unfortunately, for the Dodgers that is, the Pirates’ pitchers were matching zero-for-zero on the scoreboard. Right-hander Trevor Williams took the bump for the Pirates that night, and tossed eight straight scoreless frames with five strikeouts. He may have given up seven hits and four walks, but you couldn’t have asked for a more dominant performance. The Pirates’ bullpen held up their end of the deal, keeping the score tied at zero going into extra innings.
However, baseball fans got treated to an extremely rare sight: Rich Hill came out to start the 10th inning. By 2017, starters were averaging less than six innings per start. Prior to this instance, the last time a starting pitcher made it to the 10th inning was Cliff Lee in April 2012. The Dodgers let Hill take the mound to begin extras with the hope he could finish off what was a masterful performance.
But Pirates’ All-Star Josh Harrison had other plans.
Harrison led off the 10th inning for the Bucs, and on the fourth pitch he saw, he pulled a flyball to the left field corner. Curtis Granderson tracked it all the way to the wall, making a leaping attempt to haul the flyball back in, but it was just out of his reach. Harrison ended the game, and Hill’s impressive no-hit bid with a solo home run.
Seven seasons later, Hill would sign a one-year deal with the Pirates. He made 22 starts for the Bucs, including 14 more in PNC Park. However, nothing comes close to this performance from August 2017. Hill’s long career may be coming to an end, but the Pirates can say they played a pretty notable role in his 21 MLB season career, in more ways than one.
