Miller’s Near No-Hitter Gives Braves 6-0 Shutout, Series Sweep

If it weren’t for 1B Justin Bour’s two-out single up the middle in the bottom of the ninth inning, Shelby Miller would have been the first Atlanta Braves pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Kent Mercker’s gem against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 8, 1994.  SO. CLOSE.  Miller pitched a complete game shutout against the Miami Marlins, as the Braves won Sunday afternoon 6-0 in  a series sweep.

Miller struck out four Marlins, allowing just two hits and one walk in his pitching masterpiece.  He only needed 94 pitches, 70 went for strikes.  It was like watching Greg Maddux in his prime how Miller worked both sides of the plate, but with more giddy-up on the four-seam fastball.  His two-hitter lowered his season’s ERA to 1.33.  Is there another pitcher in the NL or in all of baseball hotter than Shelby Miller?

Offensively the Braves handled Henderson Alvarez in the second inning, scoring five runs.  Jace Peterson went 2-4 with 2 RBI’s.  Todd Cunningham went 2-4 and is hitting .667 on the season.  Cunningham might feel sad that he has to leave Marlins Park after today’s series sweep.

Defensively the Braves made so many clutch plays in Shelby Miller’s special ball game.  There were several close plays at first where Freddie Freeman recorded the put out milliseconds ahead of the Marlins base runners.  Phil Gosselin made an outstanding diving stop at third base to retire Adeiny Hechavarria in bottom of the third.

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The only issue in today’s ball game was that Goose sprained his wrist on making that play at third.  Andrelton Simmons who was given the day off had to come in to play short as Pedro Ciriaco had to move over to third following Gosselin’s premature exit.

Atlanta sits at 18-19 before heading home to face the Tampa Bay Rays Tuesday night.  After a very rough six games in DC and Cincy, it was wonderful that the Braves took care of business in South Beach.  I still can’t believe Shelby Miller nearly through a no-hitter.

On a related note Miami Marlins Manager Mike Redmond and Bench Coach Rob Leary have just been dismissed from the organization, according to Jenn Hildreth of Fox Sports.  I know that Redmond has been on the hot seat for a while now, but this is shocking to me.  This now makes two managers fired before the end of May, the other being Ron Roenicke formerly of the Milwaukee Brewers.  It will be interesting to see replaces Redmond as the Fish’s skipper.  Great game for Shelby Miller and the Braves.  Rough day for the Miami Marlins organization.