Nolasco snaps complete game drought with two-hitter

By Juan C. Rodriguez | SunSentinel.com

1:37 AM EDT, August 20, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - It was a tough play, but one Mike Jacobs would tell you he should have made.

Had Jacobs successfully backhanded Randy Winn's first-inning grounder, Ricky Nolasco would have taken a no-hit bid into the ninth inning Tuesday at AT&T Park.

Instead, Nolasco settled for a complete-game two-hitter as the Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! blanked the Giants 6-0.

In orchestrating the signature performance of his young career, Nolasco snapped the Marlins' major league record run of consecutive games without a complete game at 301. He was the first to do it since Anibal Sanchez was credited with an eight-inning complete game on Sept. 16, 2006 in Atlanta. The last Marlin to throw a nine-inning complete game was Dontrelle Willis on Sept. 10, 2006 against the Phillies.

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

Added Nolasco: "I wanted it, bad."

Official scorer Chuck Dybdal ruled Winn's sharp grounder that glanced off Jacobs' glove a hit, but it could have gone either way. Jacobs ranged a couple of steps to his right and made a sliding stab at it. He managed to deflect the ball, which trickled into the outfield.

Pinch-hitter Pablo Sandoval rendered the point moot when he slapped a 0-2 pitch down the left-field line for a double. Sandoval was the last of three Giants base runners.

"It wasn't that hard of a play," Jacobs said. "I thought right away it should have been an errorThat's the kind of pitcher [Nolasco] is. He has a chance to do that every time out."

After the Winn infield single, Nolasco retired the next 21 batters, striking out eight of them, before Emmanuel Burriss drew a four-pitch walk with two outs in the eighth.

Nolasco culminated his first career complete-game shutout tossing 13 of 14 ninth-inning pitches for strikes. He got Winn swinging to end the game for his 11th strikeout.

"I had all my pitches working," Nolasco said. "I started throwing the splitter late in the game and got some strikeouts on that."

Nolasco threw 14 pitches in each of the first three innings and didn't total more than 11 in any of the next four. In throwing 70.9 percent of his 110 pitches for strikes, Nolasco had just two full counts all game. He fell behind 2-0 to just four of the 30 batters he faced.

Before Jorge Cantu hit his 22nd homer, a solo shot off reliever Alex Hinshaw to open the sixth, the Marlins had already put five on the board without the benefit of a homer.

The Giants defense wasn't especially helpful as first baseman Travis Ishikawa was charged with an error in both the first and second innings that contributed to Marlins runs.

Five of the Marlins' first seven hits came off starter Kevin Correia during a three-run fifth that saw Ricky Nolasco knock home a pair with a double. Nolasco entered the at-bat with one RBI in 44 at-bats.

The six runs were the most the Marlins had scored since Aug. 8, when they beat the Mets 8-2 at Shea Stadium. They had totaled nine over their last four games.

Perhaps most impressive, the Marlins struck out a season-low two times for the second time this season and first since April 4 against the Pirates.

The Marlins needed the win to keep pace with the first-place Mets and second-place Phillies, who the Marlins trail by four and a game and a half, respectively.

Said Baker: "That's the kind of game we needed on both sides of the ball."

Juan C. Rodriguez can be reached at jcrodriguez@sunsentinel.com