The Windup Newsletter ⚾ | This is The Athletic’s MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.The Astros have 18 no-hitters in franchise history; this one might have been the most surprising.Plus: Jacob Misiorowski could set a very specific record, I brought back a few souvenirs from my two weeks off and we tell you about Joey Votto’s quest to be the most interesting man in … after baseball?I’m Levi Weaver, welcome to The Windup!Turnaround: Imai and Astros’ combined no-hitterAs surprises go, they don’t get much bigger than the Astros’ combined no-hitter against the division rival Texas Rangers last night.As recently as two weeks ago, Tatsuya Imai’s career with the Astros was quickly becoming a “What should they do with this guy?” type of scenario.There was the IL stint with “fatigue” after just three starts and a 7.27 ERA. There was the acknowledgement that he was struggling to adjust to the schedule of stateside baseball. The continued struggles in the minor leagues during his rehab assignment. And the return to the big leagues, only for his ERA to balloon to 9.24.But last week, on a rainy night in Minneapolis, light finally began to shine through the cracks. Last night, those cracks gave way to an explosion. Imai worked around four walks to hold the Rangers hitless through six innings. And he wasn’t the only cool story from the night. After a hitless inning from Steven Okert, the next reliever out of the bullpen was Alimber Santa, who was making his big-league debut. He worked two hitless innings, becoming the first pitcher to be involved in a no-hitter in his debut since — say it with me — Bumpus Jones in 1892. (You knew that, right?)For the Astros, it’s one more big step back from the brink. After nearly two months with the league’s worst pitching staff, they’ve now seen big steps forward from Imai and Spencer Arrighetti, who have helped keep 24-31 Houston within screaming distance of .500 while it awaits the return of ace Hunter Brown.Middle Relief: Power Rankings predictionsImai wasn’t the only hit-averse pitcher on the mound yesterday. Jacob Misiorowski took a no-hitter into the sixth inning against the Cardinals, ultimately striking out 12 hitters in seven innings.That got me curious about a fairly specific stat, so I wanted to share my Brewers entry for this week’s Power Rankings, in which we made a two-months-from-now prediction for each of the 30 teams. (Yes, I am my own middle relief this week.)