Alec Mills dominated smoothly as he pitched the second no-hitter this season, silencing the Milwaukee Brewers as the Cubs won 12-0 Sunday. It was the 16th no-hitter in Chicago franchise history.
Mills retired Jace Peterson – who replaced Brewers all-star slugger Chritsian Yelich near the bottom of the beating – with a routine ground out to shortstop Javier Baez with two outs in the ninth. Baez completed the play, and the Cubs went to greet Mills, removing his hat and ripping his uniform to right.
“I still don’t take it in,” Mills pointed out. It’s kind of crazy, I don’t even know how to celebrate it. Everything worked out for me today. It will be an indelible memory.
Mills (5-3) used 114 pitches and was in no rush all afternoon. Venezuelan Avisail García came close to deciphering him twice, with a line to the right in the first and when he was about to reach base on legs after a ground ball to shortstop in the sixth. Garcia immediately requested the review, but the Brewers ultimately chose not to pursue the claim.
A 22nd-round pick in the 2012 draft by Kansas City, Mills had just six starts in the majors leading up to this season. But he earned a spot in the rotation because of the injury that sidelined José Quintana.
Mills would have faced Garcia again in the ninth, but Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell had thrown Garcia and Yelich out on the heavy score. Mills struck out Garcia’s replacement Tyrone Taylor for the second out of the ninth.
“That surprised me a bit,” Mills said. Taylor at bat and then. I didn’t understand why they were in the game.
Mills struck out five on three walks. His five strikeouts were the fewest in a Cubs no-hitter since Ken Holtzman in 1969.
Lucas Giolito, ace of the Chicago White Sox, was the author of the other no-hitter of the current season, doing it against the Pirates on August 15. (GG).