MIAMI _ The Marlins could have had Rich Hill. Any team could have. The 36-year-old left-hander was a free agent last winter and on the trading block this summer, acquired for a few million dollars the first time and a few prospects the second.
Instead, Hill is a Dodger now, their No. 2 starter behind Clayton Kershaw both heading into the playoffs and in Miami this weekend. On Saturday at Marlins Park, a day after the home team smacked around the Los Angeles ace, Hill threw seven perfect innings in the Dodgers' 5-0 win over the Marlins.
Skepticism from the Marlins, who discussed Hill and his mid-30s career revival among the dozen or so options to fill out their rotation, or any other major league front office is fair. His track record was lacking, save for a handful of starts late last year. His method of attack _ big, swooping curveball first and low-90s fastball second _ is unorthodox. His health history, most recently blister issues, is checkered. He isn't your prototypical top-of-the-rotation arm. He isn't a guy you would bet on tossing up no-hit bids on the semi-regular.
On Saturday, none of that mattered. Hill continued to confound.
The excitement _ and tension _ built slowly. In the fourth, the Marlins hit three balls hard to center field, but all were caught. In the fifth, Hill struck out two batters. In sixth, three more. In the seventh, left fielder Yasiel Puig went airborne to rob Martin Prado of extra bases on a line drive, drawing significant applause from the pro-Dodger portion of the crowd of 20,933.
In the eighth, it was over. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled Hill after seven innings and 89 pitches, and Jeff Francoeur singled off reliever Joe Blanton's curveball and shortstop Corey Seager's glove to end the attempt at perfection, four outs short. Hill struck out nine Marlins.
Dee Gordon's ninth-inning infield single was Miami's only other hit.
For the Marlins, righty Tom Koehler was effective early, facing one over the minimum number of batters through three innings. Once the Dodgers figured him out, though, it got ugly fast. Over a span of five batters in the fifth and sixth innings, Los Angeles scored four runs on three homers (plus a walk) to end Koehler's night after five-plus innings.
Joc Pederson, the Dodgers' All-Star rookie sensation last season, came first, sending a solo shot to deep right. Seager, the Dodgers' All-Star rookie sensation this season, came second, sending a two-run dinger on a line over the same wall. Justin Turner, not a rookie and not an All-Star but a very solid player nonetheless, made it back-to-back when he, too, homered to right. All three balls landed within feet of each other.
After seeing Koehler get hit no matter what he threw _ first a slider in, then a two-seamer over the plate, then a four-seamer away _ Marlins manager Don Mattingly took the ball from Koehler, whose slow walk back to the Miami dugout came sooner than anyone could have expected when he got through five innings on 78 pitches.
The final line on Koehler: four runs on six hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out four.
Pederson homered again in the seventh inning, this time off right-hander Brian Ellington. It also went to right field.
