25-year Marliniversary: Burnett walks 9 in wild no-hitter in San Diego

[Mike Ferguson]

In nearly three and a half decades as a franchise, the Florida/Miami Marlins have had six different pitchers throw a no-hitter. Perhaps the most bizarre came on this day 25 years ago.

For the Florida Marlins at Qualcomm Park on May 12, 2001, pitcher A.J. Burnett walked nine batters, hit another and barely threw more strikes than balls. In the end, however, he became the third pitcher in Marlins history to toss a no-no in a 3-0 win over the San Diego Padres. For the night, Burnett threw 129 pitches—65 strikes and 64 balls.

After Burnett pitched around a two-out walk in the first inning, the Padres had perhaps their best scoring chance in the second. Ben Davis and Bubba Trammell drew back-to-back walks to open the frame. A flyout by Damian Jackson moved Davis to third with one out, but two pitches later, Burnett was able to get Donaldo Méndez to ground into a double play to end the threat.

In the top of the third, Florida gave Burnett all the offense he would need. Charles Johnson’s two-run double scored Eric Owens and Preston Wilson to give the Marlins a 2-0 lead.

In the third, San Diego threatened again. Two walks and a wild pitch put a pair of runners in scoring position with one out, but Burnett again hunkered down. Burnett struck out Ryan Klesko swinging before getting Dave Magadan to fly out to centerfield.

The fourth required another Houdini act from Burnett. After a second walk to Trammell and hitting Jackson, Burnett again got out of the inning unscathed following consecutive strikeouts of Méndez and opposing pitcher Wascar Serrano.

Florida added to its lead with a run in the top of the fifth. Burnett followed with consecutive 1-2-3 innings.

The right-hander worked around a one-out walk in the seventh. After a pair of walks brought the tying run to the plate with one out in the eighth, Burnett inducted consecutive pop-outs from Davis and Trammell.

The bottom of the ninth would be one of Burnett’s most economical innings of the evening. After getting Alex Arias to fly out, Burnett fanned pinch hitter Santiago Pérez for his seventh and final strikeout of the night. Three pitches later, Phil Nevin popped out to Florida shortstop Álex González to complete the wild no-hitter.

While Burnett kept San Diego without a hit, the Marlins finished with seven. Wilson had three of those knocks. Serrano took the loss for the Padres despite allowing just one earned run in seven innings.

Burnett’s no-hitter served as the first for the Marlins since Kevin Brown no-hit the San Francisco Giants in June 1997. In baseball history, only Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds in 1965 had more walks in a no-hitter than Burnett’s nine. Burnett’s lone career no-no came on this day a quarter-century ago.

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