Jarrod Parker: Oakland A's Rookie Hurler Earns AL Best of the Night Award

Jarrod Parker was faced with a tough assignment on Monday night. All the Oakland A's rookie had to do was go out and shut down the Texas Rangers, who have the most explosive offense in Major League Baseball.

Challenge accepted.

Parker did everything the A's could have possibly asked and then some. He didn't just beat the Rangers. He dominated them, and he very nearly made history in the process.

Parker, who was making just the ninth start of his young career, didn't give up a hit through the first seven innings of the game, and not even the great Josh Hamilton posed a threat. Parker walked him early in the game but then went on to strike him out swinging twice, both times on changeups.

As they usually do, ESPN Stats & Info came through with some vital intel about those two punchouts:

"

Jarrod Parker struck out Josh Hamilton twice on changeups tonight. Only other pitcher to do that this season is Justin Verlander.

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 5, 2012"

Pretty good company right there. And if you haven't seen it, Parker's changeup is indeed that good. It's going to be a weapon for years to come.

Sadly, Parker's no-hit bid came to an end in the top of the eighth inning when Michael Young grounded a single up the middle into center field. It was a clean hit. No controversy whatsoever.

But it mattered not. The A's were up 10-0 at the time, and Young's single was erased when David Murphy grounded into a double play to end the inning.

With Parker's pitch count at 110 pitches, A's manager Bob Melvin decided that his young ace had done enough. He pulled Parker after the eighth inning was over.

Parker's final line: 8 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO. The A's won 12-0 to give him his second win of the season.

Of Parker's 110 pitches, 69 went for strikes. He lowered his ERA from 2.88 all the way down to 2.40. If you missed any of it, you can check out the highlights over at MLB.com.

Had Parker actually managed to finish off the no-hitter, he would have made a bit of history. The Rangers entered the game with a team batting average of .288, the highest in the major leagues. According to the Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN.com), the only pitcher to ever throw a no-no against a team with a team average that high was Hideo Nomo in 1996. He no-hit the Colorado Rockies, who were batting .290 at the time.

Parker fell just short, but he certainly did more than enough to earn my American League "Best of the Night" award. There wasn't a whole lot of competition on Monday night, but Parker would have ran away with the award even if there had been.

If I had to guess, this won't be the last time Parker wins Best of the Night honors. He looks like the real deal.

If you ever want to nominate somebody for American League "Best of the Night" honors, hit me up on Twitter.