Miami – Anibal Sanchez was standing behind the mound when the scoreboard caught his eye, confirming what he already knew: He was one out from a no-hitter.
He froze. For a couple of seconds, the Florida Marlins rookie didn’t move.
“I said: ‘Wow. This hitter is the last one,”‘ Sanchez said.
Then he collected himself and, in this year of sensational rookies, finished up the greatest performance thus far.
The 22-year-old Venezuelan brought the longest period without a no-hitter in major-league history to a close Wednesday night, benefiting from three defensive gems by teammates to lead the Marlins over the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-0.
“This is the best moment of my life,” Sanchez said. “You never think that’s going to happen.”
One of four rookies in the Florida rotation, Sanchez (7-2) walked four and pitched around an error. He struck out six and threw 103 pitches in his 13th career start.
Sanchez finished it off in quick fashion in the ninth. He struck out Conor Jackson swinging on a 1-2 pitch, got Luis Gonzalez to pop out to third, then retired Eric Byrnes on a sharp grounder to shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who fielded the ball carefully on one knee before throwing to first for the out.
“The last groundball, I wasn’t going to flub that,” said Ramirez, another rookie. “It wasn’t going to get past me.”
Before Ramirez even threw the ball, third baseman Miguel Cabrera began sprinting toward Sanchez and was the first to arrive with a hug. Players poured out of the Marlins dugout en masse and swarmed around the pitcher, with the jubilant mob hopping as one between the mound and third base.
“That was a lot of bouncing,” said Wes Helms, who caught Ramirez’s throw for the final out. “It’s once-in-a-lifetime for a lot of people.”
Sanchez’s teammates then hoisted him on their shoulders.
“The most special moment was his face and how proud he was – and exhausted,” left fielder Josh Willingham said.
Sanchez pointed and thrust his fists to the small crowd, where his wife sat in stands.
“She was there,” he said, his eyes wet with tears. “I don’t know, I can’t say any more. I love her, I love my family.”
It was the first no-hitter in the majors since Arizona’s Randy Johnson threw a perfect game to beat Atlanta 2-0 on May 18, 2004.
“Congratulations to him,” Johnson said, after flirting with a no-hitter against Kansas City before surrendering a leadoff triple in the seventh.
Sanchez’s gem ended a stretch of 6,364 major-league games between no-hitters. The longest gap previously was 4,015 games from Sept. 30, 1984, to Sept. 19, 1986, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“To be on the other end is not fun,” Byrnes said. “It’s embarrassing.”
