Mattingly protects his pitcher
Marlins lefty was four outs from no-hitter when pulled from game
MILWAUKEE — Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly said itwas an easy decision to pull Adam Conley after116 pitches Friday night, despite the lefty having not alloweda hit for 7 2⁄ innings. 3
Conley exited with a nohit bid intact, drawing boos from the crowd at Miller Park. Miami’s bullpen couldn’t finish off theno-hitter but held on for a 6-3 win.
“It was easy right there,” Mattingly said of the decision. “Iknewhecouldn’t finish. We weren’t going to let him finish.”
The 25-year-old Conley (1-1) struck out seven and walked four. In four previous starts this season, he threw31, 93, 95 and 88 pitches.
Conley’s career high for pitcheswas 106 last season.
“I never like coming out of the game, no matter what the circumstances are, but considering where I was at the in the game and everything Iknewwhatwas going on,” said Conley, who made his major league debut last year, “I knew coming into the eighth I was already at about100 [pitches].”
Said Mattingly: “This kid has a chance to be really special, so there’s noway, at this point in the season, that we’re going to let him go to 130. We knowwe have a long season and we feel like we have a chance to go somewhere. He’s going to have to be a part of that, so we have to protect him.”
The crowd at Miller Park booed as Mattingly walked to themoundand brought in Jose Urena from the bullpen.
Jonathan Lucroy blooped a single with one out in the ninth off Urena to break up the combo no-hit bid. The ball landed in shallow right field, just beyond the out stretched glove of diving second baseman Derek Dietrich.
Dietrich was playing in place of speedy Gold Glove winner Dee Gordon, who was suspended by Major League Baseball for 80 games on Thursday night after a positive test for performancesubstances.
When asked whether Gordon would have caught Lucroy’s hit, Mattingly said, “I don’t know. Probably. Dee’s pretty exciting. He probably catches that ball.”
Earlier this month, Ross Stripling of the Dodgers threw a no-hit ball for 7 1⁄ 3 innings against San Francisco in his major league debut and was taken out after 100 pitches.
Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta pitched the majors’ first nohitter this season, doing it April 21 at Cincinnati.