Paddack takes no-hitter into 8th as Padres hold on
San Diego has not had a no-hitter in 50 years as a franchise
MIAMI — Chris Paddack said he took the mound with a chip on his shoulder and a tragedy on his mind, and the emotions of the occasion brought out the best in the San Diego Padres rookie.
Paddack took a no-hitter into the eighth inning, and two relievers got the final four outs to complete a three-hitter and beat the Miami Marlins 3-2 Wednesday night.
The performance came in Paddack’s first appearance against the Marlins, who made the right-hander an eighth-round draft choice in 2015 and traded him to San Diego for reliever Fernando Rodney the following year.
Along with an eagerness to show the trade was a mistake, Paddack said he pitched mindful of the late José Fernández. As a Miami minor leaguer, Paddack admired the Marlins ace, who died in a 2016 boat crash.
“I could talk about this for an hour,” Paddack said. “There’s just so much.”
After Starlin Castro homered leading off the eighth, Paddack (6-4) retired the next two batters and then departed, matching the longest outing of his career. He struck out eight, walked one, threw 94 pitches and lowered his ERA to 2.70.
The Padres, who played their first game in 1969, remain the only major league team never to have thrown a no-hitter.
SD: 46-49 overall MIA: 35-58 overall
“That shows you how hard it is,” Paddack said.
Austin Hedges hit a tworun homer, his seventh, against Trevor Richards (311) to help San Diego break a four-game losing streak.
Paddack drew Fernández’s No. 16 in the dirt and then went to work, retiring the first 15 batters before Cesar Puello reached on a throwing error by shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr.
Pinch hitter Yadiel Rivera, who walked with two out in the sixth, was the only other baserunner against Paddack.
Padres manager Andy Green said he began to think in the early innings that Paddack might throw a no-hitter.
“He looked really sharp from the get-go,” Green said. “Nobody ever seemed on balance against him.”
Facing the lowest-scoring team in the majors, Paddack needed only eight pitches in the first inning and struck out four of the first five batters. Garrett Cooper was so badly fooled by a pitch