One out away from a no-hitter and Braves right-hander Shelby Miller didn’t nibble around the plate. He didn’t try to get Justin Bour to chase a pitch way out of the strike zone, nor did he ease into the showdown with a breaking ball.
Instead, Miller challenged Bour with a fastball on his first pitch. Bour slapped a clean single through the middle of the infield, disappointing those Marlins fans who had gradually come around to cheering for Miller to throw a no-hitter.
“He put a good swing on it and hit it right up the middle,” Miller said. “I wish it would have finished differently but at the same time you’ve got to accept a ballgame like that.”
Miller lost his no-hit bid on Sunday but he finished out the 6-0 Braves victory to complete a three-game series sweep of the Marlins. The Braves have won all six games they’ve played at Marlins Park this season and this one was the most impressive because of Miller.
He came so close to throwing a no-hitter but ended up allowing two when Dee Gordon followed Bour with a hit. Miller had only allowed one base runner before Bour’s hit, walking Marcell Ozuna to begin the second inning, and faced the minimum 26 batters through 8 2/3 innings.
“We were joking around that it’s good when you can be disappointed with a complete-game shutout,” Braves outfielder Todd Cunningham said.
Miller didn’t have much visible reaction after Bour’s hit and afterwards he insisted he’s not disappointed. He said he was focused on the many positives of his dominating performance while not stressing over what might have been.
“I’m happy with it,” Miller said. “Obviously things didn’t finish as we wanted to but at the same time we got a sweep.”
It could have been a historical day for Miller. Just two pitchers have thrown complete-game no hitters since the Braves moved to Atlanta, Phil Niekro in 1973 and Kent Mercker in 1994, and 13 have done it in the franchise’s history. (Mercker combined with two others for a Braves no-hitter in 1991.)
It seemed as if Miller would join them on the list when Bour came up to bat. Braves catcher A.J. Pierzynski has been there before.
Pierzynski was the catcher in 2013 when Rangers right-hander Yu Darvish had a hit go between his legs to end a perfect game bid with two outs in the ninth. Pierzynski was also behind the plate in 2008 when Twins catcher Joe Mauer broke up White Sox pitcher Gavin Floyd’s no-hitter with one out in the ninth.
“It never gets less frustrating,” Pierzynski said. “Every time, it stinks. You want a guy to throw one because it’s special.”
Miller was staked to a 4-0 lead when the Braves batted around against Marlins starter Henderson Alvarez in the second inning. Pierzynski hit an RBI double, shortstop Pedro Ciriaco hit a sacrifice fly and second baseman Jace Peterson knocked a two-run single.
Miller went so long without allowing a hit thanks in large part to some good defensive plays.
In the third inning Ciriaco charged Henderson Alvarez’s high chopper and threw him out at first. Alavarez was initially ruled safe before the call was overturned following a replay review that took more than three minutes.
Marlins speedster Dee Gordon led off the fourth inning by poking a slow roller down the first-base line. First baseman Freddie Freeman started to make a play on the ball before giving way to Miller, who scooped it with his glove and flipped it to Freeman as he stepped on the bag just before Gordon.
There were two outs in the seventh when Stanton smacked a line-drive to left-center field. Cunningham chased it down to make the catch.
“Honestly, I didn’t know what we had going,” Cunningham said of the no-hit bid. “It’s probably best I didn’t.”
With two outs in the eighth inning, Ichiro Suzuki came up to pinch hit and slapped a slow chopper. But Andrelton Simmons, who had replaced Ciriaco at shortstop, ran in to make a clean play for the out.
Bourn ended up being the Marlins player to end the no-hitter. He’s a reserve first baseman who entered the game in the sixth inning and now is 11-for-25 (.440) on the season.
“We tried to go in and we wanted to throw it off the plate and he threw it right down the middle,” Pierzynski said. “Those things happen. It stinks. But Shelby pitched a great game: shut out, a two-hitter. And we swept the series, so that’s the biggest thing. But you get that close, you want to finish it.”
The Braves acquired Miller from the Cardinals as part of the Jason Heyward trade last winter and he’s quickly become their best starting pitcher. The Braves can keep him under contract through the 2018 season.
Miller leads qualifying major-league pitchers in ERA (1.33), walks and hits per innings pitched (0.83), opponents’ average (.156) and opponents’ on-base percentage (.229). In his last three starts Miller has pitched 25 innings, including two complete games, while allowing eight hits and one run with 20 strikeouts and four walks.
