MIAMI _ Trevor Richards' run of success continues through at least another start.
Meanwhile, the Miami Marlins' offense has continued to regress to the mean after a solid three-week run.
Richards, a 26-year-old right-handed pitcher, threw seven solid innings but received no run support in a 1-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday at Marlins Park. The Marlins (23-39) were shut out for the 11th time this season and sixth time at home and dropped another series to the Braves. They can avoid the sweep with a win on Sunday. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m.
Richards' goal from the start was to maximize his change-up, the best pitch in his arsenal, against a Braves team that lives on hitting the fastball.
It worked.
Richards carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman hit a two-out single to shallow center field. Prior to that, Richards had only allowed three walks and a hit-by-pitch.
"I'm aware of it, but I'm not really thinking about it," Richards said of the no-hit bid. "I'm thinking about the next inning, the next hitter coming up, trying to prepare for the next three outs."
But the real damage came in the seventh. Braves standout rookie outfielder Austin Riley led off the inning with a double, his first hit of the series. He moved to third on an Ozzie Albies flyout to deep center field and scored on a Tyler Flowers sacrifice fly.
Richards left the game after the seventh, finishing the game with five strikeouts and just the two hits allowed on 95 pitches (60 strikes). He has posted a 1.74 ERA (six earned runs over 31 innings) with 28 strikeouts to just 10 walks over his last five starts. He has allowed no more than one earned run in four consecutive starts.
Richards threw a season-high 58 change-ups, with 44 going for strikes.
"Pretty good today," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "Just really pitching like he always does, but he really slowed them down early. He maximized his change-up, used his cutter some, a few breaking balls. Thought he did a really good job with that club."
Riley's run was the only one the Braves (35-29) needed to secure their third series victory over the Marlins this year because the Marlins offense struggled for a third consecutive game. Miami recorded just four hits on Saturday and has just 14 total hits over its last three games _ all losses after winning 13 of their previous 18 games, a stretch in which the team averaged 9.8 hits and six runs per game.
"You're going to run into certain guys that are tough on you," Mattingly said. "You know you're not going to score like crazy every day, but I was happy with the at-bats today. Guys were battling, getting themselves pitches to hit. We just didn't do enough with it."
The Marlins had their scoring chances. Their leadoff batter reached base in the third, fourth and fifth inning only for the side to be quickly retired.
They had runners on first and second with one out in the sixth with Curtis Granderson reached on a fielding error by Dansby Swanson in the shift and Garrett Cooper drew a full-count walk. Brian Anderson and Starlin Castro struck out in back-to-back at-bats to end the inning.
They had runners on the corners with two outs in the eighth after Harold Ramirez recorded a pinch-hit double and stole third before Cooper drew his second walk of the game. Anderson grounded out to third, with Josh Donaldson's throw to first barely beating out Anderson to end the frame.
Martin Prado hit a one-out single in the ninth, but JT Riddle and Jorge Alfaro struck out swinging to end the game.
"We had a few chances. There weren't a whole lot of hits in that game," Mattingly said. "We did have a few chances with runners in scoring position. We've talked about these type of things, getting that key out or getting that key hit. Today, we just weren't able to do it."
Julio Teheran threw six scoreless innings to keep the Marlins at bay before the bullpen threw three scoreless innings of relief.
