Mills carries no-hitter into eighth, lifts 51s

Brad Mills pitched seven innings of no-hit ball and the 51s defeated the Tucson Padres 5-0 on Sunday in a Pacific Coast League game at Fort Wayne, Ind.

Mills, the PCL’s starting pitcher in the Triple-A All-Star Game last week at Salt Lake City, held the Padres without a hit until Matt Clark led off the eighth with a single to right field. Mills (8-7) finished the inning, and then turned the ball over to Winston Abreu who pitched a perfect ninth, striking out two.

Mills, who struck out six and walked two, lowered his ERA to 3.71.

The 51s (49-45) scored the only run they would need in the first inning on Adam Loewen’s RBI double off the left-field wall. The hit drove in Darin Mastroianni, who doubled to lead off.

Jayson Nix made it 4-0 in the third inning with a three-run homer, his third home run of the four-game series. Mastroianni opened the inning by reaching on a two-base throwing error, and one out later David Cooper walked to set up Nix’s blast.

The 51s’ final run came in the sixth on Manny Mayorson’s RBI double that scored Kevin Howard, who had walked to lead off.

Jon Leicester (4-4) allowed four hits and five runs (four earned) in six innings for Tucson (46-48).

The 51s open a four-game series today against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in Colorado Springs, Colo., before returning home Friday to face Tucson in a four-game series.