FINALLY! Marlins 1st complete game in 301 games.

Nolasco hurls two-hit shutout vs. Giants
Right-hander retires 21 straight batters after first-inning single
By Joe Frisaro / MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- At last, Ricky Nolasco was able to close the deal, and by doing so, the right-hander put to rest an infamous Major League record.

Nolasco tossed a shutout Tuesday night, limiting the Giants to two hits as the Marlins claimed a 6-0 victory at AT&T Park.

The complete game was the first by a Marlin since Anibal Sanchez at Atlanta on Sept. 16, 2006. The drought for not going the distance lasted 301 games, the longest ever by a Major League club. Sanchez's effort, however, was over eight innings in a 2-1 loss at Turner Field. Prior to Nolasco's gem Tuesday, the last shutout by a Marlins starter was Dontrelle Willis on Sept. 10, 2006, 3-0 over the Phillies.

Also that year, Sanchez threw a no-hitter on Sept. 6 against the Diamondbacks.

"It's good to get that out of the way," said Nolasco, who enabled the Marlins to record their eighth shutout of the season. "Most importantly, it was good to get the win on this long road trip. We started it off the right way."

Nolasco entered the ninth inning with 95 pitches, and he sealed the shutout by striking out Randy Winn on his 110th pitch.

"I wanted it bad. It's good to close the door," Nolasco said.

It took 51 Major League starts for Nolasco to go the distance, and the 25-year-old from Corona, Calif., was brilliant, striking out 11 while walking one. He called it his finest performance as a Major Leaguer, and it came at an important time.

The Marlins opened their nine-game road trip with a victory, and they kept pace, four games behind the Mets in the NL East.

Jorge Cantu homered and John Baker had a big night behind the plate and at bat. Baker went 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.

"It's over, finally, after 301 games," Baker said. "Hopefully, it doesn't take 301 more games for another complete game."

The benefit of finishing what he started is Nolasco gave one of the most used bullpens in the big leagues an extra day off. For the first time this season, the Marlins didn't even have a reliever up during the entire game.

Nolasco actually flirted with Florida's first one-hit shutout since Willis turned in a startling 1-0 performance against the Mets on June 16, 2003.

"He has plus stuff," Baker said of Nolasco. "The last couple of starts that he's made, he hasn't had the command of everything. Tonight, you saw what happens when he has command of all his pitches. He can be devastating."

The lone hit Nolasco yielded before a ninth-inning Pablo Sandoval double came in the first when Winn was credited with a single that deflected off the glove of first baseman Mike Jacobs, who was unable to come up with the backhanded attempt. Nolasco then retired 21 straight before he issued a two-out walk to Emmanuel Burriss in the eighth inning.

Afterward, the debate was whether Winn indeed should have been credited with a hit. Jacobs says he felt it was an error, but his teammates weren't so sure.

"It wasn't that hard of a play," Jacobs said. "It hit off my glove, and I felt it was a play I definitely should have made. Obviously, I didn't. I was kind of surprised that they gave it a hit. ... Right away, it should have been an error."

Official scorer Chuck Dybdal reviewed Winn's hit during the game, and the fact Sandoval had a clean, opposite-field double on an 0-2 pitch in the ninth inning removed any question as to whether Nolasco was worthy of a no-hitter.

"It was debatable," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Winn's single. "Especially when a guy has got a no-hitter going in the ninth. I'm sure on their side, they would argue hard, which they had every right to."

Nolasco, who established a career high with 12 victories, noted that he was on his way toward first base to be in position to cover the bag had Jacobs fielded the ball cleanly.

Nolasco, however, felt Winn was deserving of the single.

"I didn't know there was any debate about it," the right-hander said. "It was in the hole, [Jacobs] had to dive. It's a base hit. I didn't think twice about it. I wasn't even thinking about that. I was on my way over, but it got through. He had to dive, and that's the way it goes."

The fact that Nolasco tossed the first complete game in almost two seasons means the 25-year-old won a pool among his teammates that had privately been set up by veteran Luis Gonzalez.

The players revealed few details about the pool to the media.

"I think some people are owing him some money," Jacobs said of Nolasco. "There is a complete-game pool, and he won it. I don't know the exact details of it, but he definitely won it."

Asked how much he won in the pool, Nolasco smiled and said: "You can go ask Gonzo about that."