Shelby Miller came within one out of a no-hitter as the Atlanta Braves sweep the Miami Marlins with a 6-0 win on Sunday.
Miller was in control throughout the afternoon and entered the ninth needing just three outs to complete his first career no-hitter. Adeiny Hechavarria led off the inning with a flyout to right. Jhonatan Solano followed with a flyout to Cameron Maybin in center. That set the stage with for Miller with Justin Bour being all that stood between him and history. However, it wasn't to be as Bour jumped on a first pitch fastball and lined it into centerfield ending the no-hit bid. Dee Gordon followed with an infield single of his own before Miller got Martin Prado to pop out to second baseman Jace Peterson to preserve the shutout.
Miller was downright dominant throwing just 94 pitches in the complete game with 70 of them going for strikes. He finished the game with four strikeouts and a walk to Marcell Ozuna who was promptly erased on a double play in the second inning.
The Braves' offense didn't waste any time in giving Miller the lead. Nick Markakis and Todd Cunningham led off the second inning with back-to-back singles. A.J. Pierzynski followed with a double scoring Markakis to put Atlanta in front 1-0. Pedro Ciriaco followed with a sacrifice fly to score Cunningham to make the score 2-0.
Henderson Alvarez then issued a walk to Cameron Maybin before striking out Miller for the second out of the inning. Jace Peterson then stepped to the plate and delivered a two-run single to right scoring Pierzynski and Maybin to increase the lead to 4-0. Freddie Freeman followed with an RBI single of his own to score Peterson before Markakis flew out to end the inning. Atlanta would tack on one more run in the sixth on a single by Maybin that scored Ciriaco who led off the inning with a double.
Miller improves to 5-1 on the season and lowers his ERA to 1.33. Alvarez takes the loss in his return from the disabled list after allowing nine hits and six runs in 5 1/3 innings.
Atlanta wraps up their nine-game road trip with a 4-5 record. They will enjoy a rare off day on Monday before opening a two-game set with Tampa Bay on Tuesday at Turner Field.