Marlins’ Volquez spins no-hitter vs. D’backs

MIAMI — Edinson Volquez threw the sixth no-hitter in Miami Marlins history Saturday, facing the minimum 27 batters and beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-0.

Volquez (2-7) 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.

It’s the first no-hitter in the majors this season, and the first time Arizona was no-hit since the Marlins’ Anibal Sanchez threw one 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 kidded 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 boat crash 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 going into Saturday, 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.

Bour had two hits and two RBIs for the Marlins, Giancarlo Stanton scored twice and Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna both had two hits. Miami gave Volquez two insurance runs in the eighth, though they were hardly needed.

Randall Delgado (1-1) gave up six hits and one run in 5 1/3 innings for Arizona.

Volquez threw a one-hitter for San Diego against Houston on July 19, 2012 — the only blemish that night coming on a fourth-inning infield single by the Astros’ Matt Downs.

That was one of his rare flirtaWhitmore

tions with this kind of history. Another came in 2014, when he had a no-no bid for Pittsburgh snapped on a leadoff single in the seventh by Cincinnati’s Devin Mesoraco.

Other than that, this was uncharted waters.

Volquez is the epitome of a baseball journeyman. The Marlins are his seventh franchise in his 13 big-league seasons, and he came into Saturday with just a 90-86 career record.

He was an All-Star in 2008, when he went 17-6 with Cincinnati and was basically the lone bright spot for the Reds in what was a dismal season.

In 2015, Volquez helped Kansas City win the World Series crown. He started Game 1 on the same day his father died.

Cubs 5, Cardinals 3

CHICAGO — Slumping Kyle Schwarber hit his first career grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally the Chicago Cubs.

Schwarber, who entered batting .163 and was dropped to the ninth spot in the lineup, hit the first pitch of the at-bat from St. Louis starter Mike Leake (5-4) deep into the bleachers in left-center.

Javier Baez also homered for Chicago, which has won two straight following a six-game losing streak.

Yadier Molina homered and Jose Martinez had two RBI for the Cardinals.

Hector Rondon (1-1) pitched a scoreless seventh to earn the win. Wade Davis got the final three outs for his 12th save.

Leake, who entered leading the National League with a 2.24 ERA, allowed five runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings.

The Cardinals grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning before making an out. Cubs starter Jon Lester walked Dexter Fowler and Stephen Piscotty sandwiched around a single by Tommy Pham to load the bases. Martinez, starting in place of the slumping Matt Carpenter, followed with a broken-bat, two-run single in to right field.

Lester, though, settled down and got Molina to hit into a double play and Jhonny Peralta to pop out to end the threat.

Leake retired the first six batters before Baez led off the third with a long homer to straightaway center to trim the lead in half.

Molina got the run back in the sixth with a two-out solo shot to make it 3-1.

That’s where it stayed until the bottom of the seventh. Jason Heyward and Willson Contreras each singled to put runners on first and third with one out. Leake then struck out Baez with a slider well off the plate and appeared on the verge of getting out of the jam.

But he hit pinch hitter Jon Jay with a pitch to load the bases. St. Louis manager Mike Matheny had left-hander Kevin Siegrist warming in the bullpen, but opted to stay with Leake against Schwarber, who had grounded out and struck out in his previous at-bats.

Royals 12, Indians 5

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Lorenzo Cain capped a six-run fifth inning with a two-run homer, Jason Hammel settled down after a shaky start and the Kansas City Royals routed the Cleveland Indians.

Whit Merrifield and Mike Moustakas had two-run doubles off Carlos Carrasco (5-3) during the Royals’ big inning, helping them overcome a 3-0 hole and ensure a series win over their division rival.

Hammel (2-6) gave up homers to Carlos Santana and Bradley Zimmer in the third, but he retired 15 of his next 17 batters before giving way to Mike Minor with two outs in the seventh.

Hammel struck out seven without a walk for his first win since beating Cleveland on May 5.

The Royals tacked on five more runs in the seventh against the best bullpen in the big leagues, a relief crew that entered the game with a 2.17 ERA.