Rich Hill's gem wasn't a no-hitter - and that shouldn't matter

How does one determine the best pitcher in baseball?

Some value longevity. Despite an incredibly dominant 1973 campaign, Nolan Ryan comes to mind as someone who was steadily great - enough so to make the Hall of Fame. He didn't win a single Cy Young in his 27-year career, even for '73. But he was arguably, at one moment, the best pitcher in baseball: Of his seven no-hitters, he threw a pair of them two months apart that season.

On Wednesday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Rich Hill tossed nine innings for the Los Angeles Dodgers without allowing a single hit. Still, on Tuesday night, there had been 296 no-hitters in MLB history, and Thursday morning, there are still just 296.

That's because Hill's doesn't count after his 10th-inning misfortune. Like Ryan, he'll probably never win a Cy Young. Unlike Ryan, he won't enjoy unbelievable longevity, and Cooperstown isn't in the cards for him. However, that doesn't change the fact that Hill was the best pitcher in baseball for a fleeting moment, and we're in jeopardy of forgetting about it because it doesn't technically qualify as a no-hitter.

The 37-year-old lefty came tantalizingly close to throwing a perfect game - a much more elusive feat, with just 21 thrown since the turn of the last century. After recording 24 outs without a single Pirates player reaching base, Logan Forsythe committed an error that reduced Hill's potential accomplishment to the still-impressive no-hitter.

And this isn't the first time in recent memory that Hill's lost a perfect-game bid. He was pulled after hurling seven perfect frames in 89 pitches against the Miami Marlins last season.

This time, Hill kept his pitch count down, throwing 98 pitches before Josh Harrison hit the 99th for a walk-off home run.

Because of Forsythe's error, Hill doesn't appear on a list that includes Philip Humber, and because of Harrison's fence-scraping homer, he doesn't join a group that includes basically the entire Seattle Mariners roster from that one time in 2012.

This isn't to discredit Humber's perfect game, which was incredible - the only one since 1999 that took fewer than 100 pitches. Humber, for a hot second, was the best pitcher in baseball. And now - as in, right now - that's Hill, even though he eventually allowed a hit Wednesday.

If the best team in baseball had scored one measly run in the regulation frames, Hill would have the 297th no-hitter in baseball history and the most noteworthy box score since at least Edinson Volquez's no-no in June.

Hill threw a no-hitter Wednesday night. No, not technically - the Pirates got a hit in extras - but he did fulfill his obligation to pitch nine innings without allowing a hit. Any pitcher that delivers a performance that masterful - regardless of whether it can be categorized as a particular accomplishment, like 'no-hitter' - should be celebrated for it.

If the postseason began next week, and you could pick one pitcher to start a do-or-die game, it would be difficult to make the case against a healthy Hill. That may change in a couple of days, and that's OK. But remember the game that made Hill the best pitcher in baseball.