Unheralded Alec Mills completed the most incredible pitching feat of a bizarre season by pitching a no-hitter as the Chicago Cubs rolled to a 12-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday at Miller Park.
Mills, 28, retired the final seven batters he faced. He opened the ninth by getting Jacob Nottingham to foul out to first baseman Anthony Rizzo. Tyrone Taylor struck out.
Mills completed the no-hit bid by getting Jace Peterson to ground to shortstop Javier Baez, ignited a wild celebration after he threw the 16th no-hitter in franchise history and the first since Jake Arrieta in 2016 in Cincinnati.
Mills struck out five and walked three while throwing a season-high 114 pitches.
The Cubs acquired Mills from the Kansas City Royals before the 2017 season in exchange for minor-league outfielder Donnie Dewees.
Mills was out of minor-league options and was projected to be a long reliever before Jose Quintana cut a nerve in his left thumb before summer training.
Making his 15th major-league start and his 30th major-league appearance, Mills changed speeds on his curve effectively.
His first pitch of the eighth was a 67 mph curve to Ben Gamel, who eventually fouled out to catcher Victor Caratini on a 68 mph curve.
Manager David Ross, sensing the only suspense left in the blowout game was Mills' no-hit bid, pulled Kyle Schwarber after he struck out to end the sixth and inserted Billy Hamilton in center field.
Ian Happ, who made a running catch to rob Jedd Gyorko of an extra-base hit near the fence in center in the second, moved to left.
Affix
Mills and the Cubs survived a scare when Baez paused momentarily after fielding a grounder by Avisail Garcia, but Baez's throw barely beat Garcia for the final out of the sixth.
Thanks to two errors, the Cubs staked Mills to a 5-0 lead in the fourth. A miscue by third baseman Eric Sogard on a potential double-play grounder set up an RBI double by Jason Heyward, and a throwing error by second baseman Keston Hiura scored Baez.
Happ capped the rally with a two-run single.
Baez caught Sogard napping in the fifth after he moved to third on a sacrifice fly and broke for home after Sogard threw the ball to second base.
David Bote capped the four-run fifth with a two-run homer.
