Vanden Hurk helps Marlins split with Braves
Talk about two improbable pitching performances. Just back from the minors, Florida's Rick Vanden Hurk took a no-hitter into the seventh inning for his first career win last night. A few hours earlier, Atlanta's Buddy Carlyle pitched one-hit ball over seven innings for his first victory since 1999, then was shipped back to the minors before he had time to celebrate.
Talk about two improbable pitching performances.
Just back from the minors, Florida's Rick Vanden Hurk took a no-hitter into the seventh inning for his first career win last night. A few hours earlier, Atlanta's Buddy Carlyle pitched one-hit ball over seven innings for his first victory since 1999, then was shipped back to the minors before he had time to celebrate.
The result was a doubleheader split, the host Braves winning the opener 3-1 behind Carlyle before the Marlins rode the big Dutchman to a 5-1 victory in the nightcap.
"It felt great. It felt awesome," said Vanden Hurk, who had been pitching at Double A Carolina until he was activated between games.
Yunel Escobar broke up the no-hitter with a double in the seventh.
Carlyle (1-1) was feeling good, too - until being told right after the game that he was headed back to Triple A Richmond.
In other games:
* At Washington, Xavier Nady hit a double and a sacrifice fly, both with the bases loaded, to lead Pittsburgh over the Nationals, 7-6.
* At Milwaukee, Ryan Braun, Corey Hart and Tony Graffanino each hit solo home runs and Claudio Vargas (4-1) won for the first time in a month to help the Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-5.
* At St. Louis, So Taguchi hit a pinch-hit single for his second straight game-winning hit, giving the Cardinals a 4-3 win over Cincinnati.
* At Denver, Lance Berkman drove in two runs and Wandy Rodriguez(3-5) pitched five strong innings to lead Houston past Colorado, 4-1.
* At San Diego, Marcus Giles drove in the winning run in the eighth inning to lead the Padres over the Dodgers, 1-0.
* At Phoenix, Chris Young hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Diamondbacks beat the Giants, 4-3.
Noteworthy
* Pedro Martinez threw off a mound for the first time since rotator-cuff surgery last fall, one of the major steps toward his goal of rejoining the Mets' starting rotation by August.
* The Rockies designated outfielder Steve Finley for assignment and called up Sean Barker, also an outfielder, from Triple A Colorado Springs.
* Nationals reliever Ryan Wagner is out for the season following surgery on a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. *