Three Cuts: Miller loses no-hit bid, but Braves complete sweep of Marlins
One out away.
Shelby Miller had a date with history, but Justin Bour had other ideas, breaking up his no-hitter with two outs in the ninth in the Braves' 6-0 victory.
It was a dominating outing that wrapped up a dominating weekend. From Miller's latest gem to Atlanta's perfect getaway spot and more, here are Three Cuts from the season finale in Miami.
As the MLB season's quarter mark nears there has been little debate that the best of the Braves' litany of offseason moves was its landing Miller.
Sunday simply underscored that notion.
"It tested (my focus) pretty good," Miller said. "You know what's going on, but at the end of the day I'm just trying to go out there and make pitches and whatever happens, happens. Obviously it wasn't meant to be today, but hopefully we'll have another opportunity."
After Bour's hit, Miami would add a second a batter later via Dee Gordon. That left Miller to settle on a complete game shutout, his second in his last three starts. He is now 5-1 with a 1.33 ERA through his first eight starts.
Atlanta still hasn't thrown a no-hitter since Kent Mercker on April 8, 1994 against the Dodgers and like the last two close calls, it ended with less than four outs remaining.
Julio Teheran lost his with two outs in the eighth against the Pirates on June 5, 2013 to a base hit by pinch hitter Brandon Inge and last season Mike Minor went 7 2/3 before the Reds' Billy Hamilton singled.
Before the final moments Miller's only blemish was a second-inning walk to Marcell Ozuna, needed just 94 pitches and had a first-pitch strike on 19 of the batters he faced. He struck out four.
Bour came off the bench having one hit in his last six plate appearances -- all as a pinch hitter -- but Miller made a miscue and the rookie made him pay.
"He was pretty locked in," said catcher A.J. Pierzynski. "He really made one mistake and it was the guy that got the hit. We tried to go in wanted to throw it off the plate and he threw it right down the middle."
Pierzynski has been behind the plate for two previous no-hitters, Mark Buehrle on April 18, 2007 and Philip Huber's perfect game April 21, 2012, both of which came when he was with the White Sox.
"It stinks. Shelby pitched a great game, shutout, two-hitter, we swept the series and that's the biggest thing, but you get that close you want to finish it," Pierzynski said.
While the Marlins avoided being on the receiving end of the no-no it did come with casualties as coach Mike Redmond and bench coach Rob Leary were fired after the game.
Miller went into Sunday having dominated the Marlins, owning a 0.90 ERA over 10 innings in his two previous outings. He's now dipped that ERA to 0.47 with a 0.736 WHIP.
While the trade of homegrown Jason Heyward was difficult for many Braves fans to swallow, the results are speaking for themselves. Miller, the National League's leader with a 1.36 ERA, remains under team control for three more season while Heyward -- who is currently hitting .250 -- can walk after this year.
Since starting out 4-0 away from Turner Field, the Braves struggled to find any consistency on the road. They dropped four straight from April 21-24 in New York and Philadelphia, were swept in Washington, D.C., and dropped two of three vs. the Reds.
The remedy, it seems, is simply a trip to South Beach.
The weekend sweep improved the Braves to 6-0 this season at Marlins Park and 25-9 since the stadium opened in 2012.
As much as the focus will be on the pitching in this series given Miller's performance -- as well it should be -- the Braves did some serious damage with their bats, hitting a collective .321 (36 for 112) in the series.
Most surprising in that surge was rookie Todd Cunningham. Called up with Kelly Johnson the disabled list with a strained oblique, he went 8 for 12 (.666) -- including 2 for 4 Sunday -- with a double and a stolen base.
Keep in mind, this was Cunningham's first big league action since Aug. 27 ... of 2013.
Utility infielder Phil Gosselin was making the most of his opportunities, producing seven hits in his last 13 at-bats, but his progress will be delayed with a trip to the disabled list.
Playing third base, Gosselin left in the third inning Sunday after making a diving stop on Adeiny Hechavarria's grounder and landing awkwardly. He completed the inning before being replaced in the batting order by Andrelton Simmons.
He is listed as day-to-day with a sprained thumb.
Gosselin has appeared in 20 games and was making his fourth start. He is hitting .316/.350/.421 with four doubles, two RBI and two steals.
Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney
