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Special K Millwood fires season's first no-hitter against GiantsPosted: Sunday April 27, 2003 4:17 PMUpdated: Monday April 28, 2003 6:40 PM
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Mentored by one of baseball's best pitching staffs, Kevin Millwood made his former Cy Young teammates proud -- and outdid them, too. Millwood pitched his first career no-hitter Sunday, shutting down Barry Bonds and the NL's top team to lead the Philadelphia Phillies over San Francisco 1-0. Millwood, acquired from Atlanta in December, struck out 10 and walked three to record the ninth no-hitter in team history. His gem came on the first anniversary of the last no-hitter in the majors, by Boston's Derek Lowe against Tampa Bay. "It was one of those special days, and I don't plan on doing it every time out, but it was a lot of fun," Millwood said. In Atlanta, Millwood often was overlooked as he pitched behind Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. Maddux (four), Glavine (two) and Smoltz (one) have seven Cy Young awards among them, but none has pitched a no-hitter. The trio has three one-hitters, two by Maddux and one by Smoltz.
"That was cool," said Maddux, who watched on a clubhouse television as Atlanta played Milwaukee at Turner Field. "I really enjoyed it. I was probably more nervous than he was." Millwood said upstaging his former teammates didn't make his performance more special. "I'd be just as excited if one of those guys threw it," he said. Millwood used several variations of his fastball and just enough offspeed pitches to keep Bonds and the other Giants' hitters off-balance throughout the afternoon -- and kept the crowd of 40,016 cheering at Veterans Stadium. "My fastball was the flavor of the day," said Millwood, who threw it on 81 of his 108 pitches. "The fans were great, they were loud and on their feet. When I got two strikes, it was so loud I couldn't hear myself think. That made me more nervous." Millwood retired Bonds three times, striking out the single-season home-run king in the seventh looking at a 91-mph fastball. Bonds hit a long drive to right that Bobby Abreu caught near the wall in the fourth. Marquis Grissom came the closest to getting a hit, but center fielder Ricky Ledee raced back and made a leaping one-handed catch on his hard liner to right-center to start the seventh. "I was just praying that Ricky would make a great play and he did," Millwood said. Ledee homered for the game's only run and also caught the final out. Jose Cruz Jr. nearly homered in the second, but his long fly hooked outside the right-field foul pole. "He threw a great game," Cruz said. "He kept pumping them up there." Grissom hit a routine fly ball to Ledee for the final out of the game. Earlier in the ninth, Millwood retired pinch-hitters Neifi Perez and Marvin Benard on grounders before walking Ray Durham on a full count. Millwood retired 15 straight batters before the walk. "Not only was that unbelievable, it came against the best team in the National League right now," Phillies manager Larry Bowa said. "To do it in 1-0 game makes it more special." Ignoring baseball superstition, Millwood sought hitting coach Greg Gross for conversation in the dugout. "I just kept saying stuff to him so he would talk to me," Millwood said. St. Louis' Bud Smith, now a Phillies' minor leaguer, pitched the last NL no-hitter against San Diego on Sept. 3, 2001. When Grissom lofted the final fly ball, Millwood (4-1) put his right finger up the air and held it there as Ledee made the catch. Phillies first baseman Jim Thome was the first teammate to reach Millwood, coming over from first base and embracing the pitcher on the mound. Thome and Millwood were Philadelphia's top acquisitions in a free-spending offseason. Catcher Mike Lieberthal hugged Millwood and Bowa pumped his fist as he ran from the dugout. But Bowa couldn't get to Millwood as the Phillies surrounded him. Millwood tipped his hat twice to the fans, who stood the last two innings to root him on. His wife, Rena, said she chewed her fingernails the last few innings. "I wouldn't say it was his best stuff," Lieberthal said. "His slider wasn't working and he threw a few curves. It was all his fastball." The last Phillies pitcher to throw a no-hitter was Tommy Greene against Montreal on May 23, 1991. Philadelphia's Terry Mulholland pitched the only other nine-inning no-hitter in Veterans Stadium history against the Giants on Aug. 15, 1990. "He was getting the calls and then he got more aggressive," Giants shortstop Rich Aurilia said. Down in Atlanta, the Braves cheered their former teammate. Maddux was charting pitches in the clubhouse when he noticed what Millwood was doing through the early innings. "I had a hard time watching our game," Maddux said. Ledee gave Millwood all the runs he needed with his first-inning homer off Jesse Foppert (0-2). "He was awesome," Ledee said of Millwood. Notes: Millwood also has one career one-hitter against Pittsburgh on April 14, 1998. ... Montreal's Pascual Perez pitched a rain-shortened, five-inning no-hitter at the Vet on Sept. 24, 1988. ... This is the last season for the Phillies at the Vet.
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