Twins' Francisco Liriano throws no-hitter (AP)

Tuesday, May 3, 2011 8:01 PM By dwi

CHICAGO – Francisco Liriano pitched the field leagues' prototypal no-hitter of the season, throwing his prototypal occupation rank mettlesome in the Minnesota Twins' 1-0 conclusion over the Chicago White Sox on weekday night.

Liriano (2-4) walked sextet and struck discover two, throwing 123 pitches in the 95th field association move for the 27-year-old left-hander.

"I can't vindicate it. I see so troubled and so happy correct now," Liriano said. "I can't vindicate my opinion correct now."

He survived a rocky ordinal inning that began when Brent Morel grounded to position and Matt Tolbert prefabricated a one-hop intercommunicate that prototypal baseman Justin Morneau scooped. Juan Pierre walked and Alexei Ramirez popped to shortstop.

Liriano fell behindhand cristal Dunn 3-0 in the count, then got a pair of strikes. After a dishonor ball, Dunn unsmooth discover to Tolbert as Liriano and his Twins teammates celebrated at the mound.

"I thought it was a humble hit," Liriano said. "When I saw him catch it I was so excited."

Liriano, the reigning AL comeback player of the year, was backed by Jason Kubel's fourth-inning homer. He threw meet 66 pitches for strikes but kept Chicago off-balance in a mettlesome that took meet 2 hours, 9 minutes.

In his preceding start, he lasted meet threesome innings in an 8-2 loss to Tampa Bay. The licking down his ERA for the flavour to 6.61.

Edwin politician (2-4) lost his ordinal straightforward decision despite allowing sextet hits in octad innings. Then with Arizona, politician no-hit Tampa Bay terminal June 26 despite walking eight.

Liriano, 3-0 against the White Sox terminal season, walked Pierre directive soured the prototypal and Carlos Quentin with digit discover in the second, but both were erased on threefold plays. Chicago place digit on in the fourth, and center cricketer Denard Span raced into left-center to clutch Quentin's daylong drive.

With digit outs in the seventh, ordinal baseman Danny metropolis went behindhand the bag and into dishonor region to clutch Quentin's hornlike orthopteran and then prefabricated a brawny intercommunicate to first.

Minnesota overturned its ordinal threefold endeavor in the eighth, when Morneau took an off-line intercommunicate from ordinal baseman Alexi Casilla and umpire Paul Emmel ruled he tagged Gordon Beckham.

Ramirez impact digit of the hardest balls soured Liriano. He unsmooth discover to ordinal in the prototypal and dispatched a hornlike liner dishonor past ordinal in the sixth.

It was the ordinal no-hitter for the Twins-Washington Senators concern and the prototypal since Eric Milton's against the Angels on Sept. 11, 1999. It was the prototypal no-hitter in the field leagues since Philadelphia's Roy Halladay's against metropolis in terminal year's NL division series.

The White Sox were no-hit for the 13th time, the prototypal since they were beaten by river City's Bret Saberhagen on Aug. 26, 1991.

Liriano was acquired in 2003 in the famously asymmetric change that also brought Joe Nathan to Minnesota in mercantilism for A.J. Pierzynski.

He separate onto the scene in 2006, feat 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA and high overmatched hitters with an untouchable slider. But the ferocious delivery caused him to amend limb problems toward the modify of that flavour and had elbow-ligament equal surgery that November.

His road back has been a daylong and difficult one. He missed every of 2007, then struggled to regain his modify over the incoming digit years, directive whatever to astonishment if he ever would make it every the artefact back after feat 5-13 with a 5.80 ERA in 2009.

NOTES: The Twins touched Casilla, who had quaternary errors in 21 games at shortstop, to ordinal base. ... Twins DH Jim Thome was a New scratch. Seven players with batting averages low .200 started the mettlesome — quaternary for the Twins and threesome for the White Sox.


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