With leg to stand on, Marlins’ Volquez throws no-hitter
Edinson Volquez’s day was nearly over after three pitches. And he strongly considered leaving the game after five innings because of sharp ankle pain.
A couple hours later, nothing was hurting.
He stuck around — and pitched the game of his life.
Volquez threw the sixth no-hitter in Marlins history, facing the minimum 27 batters on Saturday and beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-0. Tied for the major league lead in losses when the game began, he struck out 10, and the two baserunners 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.
“When I passed the seventh, I said, ‘I’m going to go for it,”’ Volquez said. “And I got it.”
It’s the first no-hitter in the majors since Jake Arrieta did it for the Cubs on April 21, 2016, at Cincinnati, and the first time Arizona was no-hit since the Marlins’ Anibal Sanchez threw one on Sept. 6, 2006.
Volquez (2-7) was nearly knocked out of the game after just one batter, when he collided with Diamondbacks leadoff man Rey Fuentes as he covered first, rolled his ankle and took a hard fall to the turf.
“I thought I broke ankle,” he kidded after game. my the
Alas, that was the only hit the Diamondbacks got. Luckily for Volquez, body blows don’t show up in the scorebook.
“I have faith in God,” Fuentes said. “And if there was a plan for Volquez, today was his day.”
The 33-year-old righty 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 boat crash last September.
Fernandez was very much on Volquez’s mind Saturday.
So was Yordano Ventura, the Kansas City pitcher who was killed in a car crash in the Dominican Republic in January. Saturday would have been Ventura’s 26th birthday. He and Volquez were not just countrymen, but close friends.
“It was special for me to dedicate the game to him,” Volquez said.
Brett
Gardner,
Matt
Holliday, Starlin Castro and Didi Gregorius all hit solo home runs in the eighth inning, leading Jordan Montgomery and New York.
Slumping Kyle Schwarber hit his first career grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally the Cubs to a victory.
Matt Adams hit his first career grand slam and connected again for a solo shot in the 12th inning, powering Atlanta to a victory over Cincinnati that ended a threegame losing streak.
Ryon Healy had two doubles and two homers, Jed Lowrie doubled twice and homered, and the Athletics beat the Washington Nationals.
Lorenzo Cain capped a sixrun fifth inning with a tworun homer, Jason Hammel settled down after a shaky start and the Royals routed the Cleveland Indians.
Jordan Zimmermann tossed six solid innings and the Tigers used four home runs to power past the Chicago White Sox.
Nolan Arenado hit his 14th homer, Ian Desmond added a grand slam and the Colorado Rockies stopped the Padres’ season-high, fivegame winning streak. Chris Taylor hit a go-ahead grand slam off Carlos Torres in a five-run ninth inning, and Los Angelesrallied late for the second straight day to beat the Brewers.
Los Angeles led 4-3 in the seventh when Chris Hatcher walked the bases loaded and Josh Fields relieved. Travis Shaw drove Fields’ third pitch over the fence.