Wade Miley loves to talk.
His teammates are drawn to the outgoing personality of this 34-year old from Hammond, Louisiana but in the sixth inning of his start against the Cleveland Indians on Friday, his friends were nowhere to be found in the dugout.
Miley shut the Indians down for six innings without allowing them to sniff a hit.
The superstition in baseball is to never talk about a no-hitter. They all knew it and didn't be the one to jinx the pitcher. Normally, they would be sitting next to the crafty, soft throwing left-hander but they made themselves scarce.
"In the sixth inning, all my buddies left me," said Miley, who was pestering teammate Mike Moustakas about the game being banged (postponed). The game started late because of rain. "I wanted to talk about something, fishing,. I didn't want to talk about pitching."
"I goofed off during the rain delay like I usually do," Miley said. "I tried to get David (manager David Bell) to tell Moustakas the game was banged. He gets mad at me. That's what I do."
Tucker Barnhart his catcher had to talk to him. Miley mentioned his name giving Barnhart credit for guiding him to an achievement accomplished just 17 times in Reds history and the first since Homer Bailey's second no-hitter on July 2, 2013 in a 3-0 game against the San Francisco. Ironically the same final score in Miley's "no-no".
"Wade's personality is so infectious," Barnhart said. "I've never seen an entire team be so happy for one person. He's such a good dude. Everyone loves him."
The Reds had a problem though.
Zach Plesac, the Cleveland hurler, gave up just three hits in eight innings and kept the Reds from scoring.
It was the second time in five starts that his mound opponent spun a no-hitter. On April 14, Carlos Rondon of the Chicago White Sox pitched a no-hitter against Cleveland but in that one Plesac gave up six runs to the White Sox in the first inning. Two no-hitters in a span of less than three weeks is such a statistical anomaly since there have only been 254 of them since 1900.
The Reds hitters felt the pressure in the ninth inning when the fresh arm of Emmanual Clase, who has more pitches clocked at 100 mph or more than anyone in the game.
"I'll be damned if we go into the 10th inning with a no-hitter," Barnhart said.
It wasn't up to Barnharrt though. Nick Senzel led off the top of the ninth for the Reds. He singled off the body of Clase and Jose Ramiez at third base could not retrieve it in time to throw Senzel out. Jesse Winker singled to left as Senzel moved up to second base. Nick Castellanos hit a slow roller that Clase picked up and threw to second but Amed Rosario, the shortstop, didn't get to the base in time and Clase's throw got away from him. Senzel scored and Winker went to third on the play.
"I wanted to get the guy from second to third. I was as calm as I could be in that situation," Castellanos said.
Castellanos then took off for second while Clase was going into his stretch. Instead of stepping off the rubber, Clase stepped toward home and stopped for a run scoring balk. "They weren't holding me on and I saw how far the shortstop was from second base, so I just took off," Castellanos said.
Moustakas singled to score Castellanos with the third run.
Miley had breezed through eight innings on fewer than 100 pitches. He works quickly and pitches to contact so he gets quick outs. He retired the first 16 batters in order until Senzel made an error on a ground ball by Amed Rosario in the sixth inning. It was just the third career start at second for Senzel, the former infielder who was converted to center field. Miley walked Cesar Hernandez with two outs. Miley ended the inning by getting Jordan Luplow to fly out to Shogo Akiyama in left.
"Those three runs made my decisions easier," Bell said. "It is important to mention the offense in the ninth inning. They had a good pitcher against us. It seemed to make us more determined if that's possible."
"We needed one run and got three," Winker said. "I was nervous from the sixth inning on."
Now all Miley had to do was hold on for three more batters while fighting slight fatigue.
"I was getting a little tired around the seventh," Miley said recalling the long Reds' at bat in the ninth inning. "I wanted to stay loose and thought about throwing in the cage but I didn't want to waste any bullets."
He used those bullets well in the bottom of the ninth. He emptied his six shooter which was exactly how many pitches he used to get Rene Rivera to fly out to Castellanos in right on the first pitch. Miley struck out Hernandez on three pitches, including a called strike three. Luplow grounded out to Kyle Farmer at short on the second pitch to secure the gem.
The Reds' stormed the field to congratulate their favorite teammate.
"I don't know that I've been a part of anything this joyful for any one player," Bell said.
"This means the world to me personally," said Barnhart with two good gloves as a catcher. "This is far and away the coolest thing in my career without a doubt."
"Wade is one of my favorite teammates. He is so real. He will always shoot you straight. That was cool. There aren't many words to explain it," said the stoic Castellanos who noted. "The only time he's calm is when he's pitching."
There some quirky things about the no hitter that players will remember through their thousands of games they have played since they were children.
Miley's four-year old son Jeb put a play tattoo of the incredible hulk on his dad on the off day Thursday. He showed it to his teammates.
"I won't get a real one. I'm afraid of needles," Miley admitted.
His teammates are insisting that he get one that is permanent.
"There were some quirky funny things about this," Barnhart said. "We didn't have a meeting before the game. I left card with the scouting on it in my locker. Tyler Naquin said that he used the wrong side of his scouting card the entire game."
"We are all better for being a part of it," Bell said. "I will never forget this. I will never forget the look on Wade's face."
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