MLB: Marlins’ Volquez tames Diamondbacks to post season’s first no-hitter
MIAMI— Edinson Volquez has thrown the sixth no-hitter in Miami Marlins history, facing the minimum 27 batters and beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-0 on Saturday.
Volquez (2-7) struck out 10, and the two base-runners who reached on walks were erased by double plays. He needed 98 pitches, the last of those striking out Chris Owings to complete the masterpiece.
It’s the first no-hitter in the majors this season, and the first time Arizona was no-hit since the Marlins’ Anibal Sanchez on Sept. 6, 2006.
Volquez was nearly knocked out of the game after only three pitches, when he collided with Diamondback leadoff man Rey Fuentes as he covered first and rolled his ankle.
“I thought I broke my ankle,” he said after the game.
The 33-year-old righty from the Dominican Republic stayed in and wound up throwing the game of his life.
Volquez was one of the pitchers the Marlins brought in this past offseason in part to fill the void caused by the death of ace Jose Fernandez, who died in a boating accident last September. His first season in Miami started about as badly as possible; the Marlins lost eight of his first nine starts and Volquez dropped his first seven decisions.
Tied for the major league lead in losses, he was nearly perfect. Nick Ahmed — who broke up a no-hit bid by Milwaukee’s Chase Anderson in the eighth inning one week earlier — led off the ninth for Arizona and struck out on four pitches. Pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso came up, and after falling behind 2-0 lead in the count, Volquez stopped for a moment, composed himself with a deep breath, and eventually got the strikeout on a 2-2 fastball.
That left it up to Owings, another pinch-hitter. Strike one. Strike two. And then came a swing and a miss for strike three, one that got away from catcher J.T. Realmuto for a brief moment before he fired to Justin Bour at first to seal the no-hitter as the Marlins swarmed the field in celebration.
Volquez threw a one-hitter for San Diego against Houston on July 19, 2012.
The Marlins are his seventh franchise in his 13 big-league seasons, and he came into Saturday with just a 90-86 career record.
In 2015, Volquez helped Kansas City win the World Series. He started Game 1 on the day his father died.