MIAMI _ Chris Paddack believes he can throw a no-hitter every time he is on the mound.
Literally believes it. Feels frustrated when he allows that first hit in a game.
The 23-year-old Texan's swagger is one of the intangibles that, combined with a smoking fastball and dastardly change-up, makes a special night seem possible any time his turn in the rotation comes up.
For that, there can be faith Wednesday was merely his best try yet.
Pitching against the team that drafted him in 2015 and traded him in 2016 _ which he said would give him a little extra motivation _ Paddack took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before Starlin Castro hit a 1-0 fastball just beyond the wall in left field to end the 8,071st game the Padres have played without a no-no.
Paddack would retire the next two batters before he was lifted after throwing his 94th pitch.
The meager crowd inside Marlins Park cheered as Paddack walked slowly to the Padres dugout.
Craig Stammen allowed a single before closing out the eighth, and Kirby Yates survived two errors at the outset of the ninth inning to preserve a 3-2 victory that stopped the Padres' losing streak at four games.
The 7 2/3 innings matched the career high for Paddack that he achieved May 6 against the Mets, who he will likely face again Tuesday in New York.
He walked one and struck out eight Wednesday. He allowed the Mets four hits and struck out 11.
It wasn't the closest anyone has come for the Padres. But what Paddack had done already this season made Wednesday seem as likely as any night before it.
Even if was highly unlikely Paddack would have been able to finish the gem on his own.
Paddack had thrown 76 pitches through six innings, 21 shy of his career high. His long-term health would dictate how far he went, hit or no hit.
A six-pitch seventh inning helped him. But it also moved him to within two outs of matching his innings total of 2018, all of those having been thrown between Single-A Lake Elsinore and Double-A San Antonio.
He looked strong.
The 82nd pitch was a 95 mph fastball, and it was the second closest the Marlins came to a hit.
Hunter Renfroe, who had just moved to right field to start the bottom of the seventh, made a running catch in the corner for the third out.
Paddack was 15 shy of his career high. The Padres had game-planned this scenario. It isn't known what the hard cap was for Paddack, but it was coming up quickly.
Suddenly, it didn't matter.
Castro hit one of Paddack's few mistakes, a 93 mph fastball left essentially in the middle of the zone, over Wil Myers' head and into the seats.
Paddack had survived one challenge to the no-hit bid even more precarious than the Bryan Anderson line drive Renfroe chased down.
With two outs in the sixth inning, Miguel Rojas lined a fastball in and out of first baseman Eric Hosmer's glove. Hosmer just beat Rojas in a race to the bag, reached down for the tag and got the out call from umpire Paul Nauert.
Rojas seemed indignant, claiming he was safe. The Marlins challenged the call, and Paddack stood alone on the field as the review commenced.
After a while, he retook the mound and started throwing to catcher Austin Hedges.
After a long two minutes and 29 seconds, the call was upheld.
It was Hedges' two-run homer in the fourth inning that provided the winning margin.
Manuel Margot began a two-out rally with a double and scored on Greg Garcia's single. Hedges, in his first start back from the bereavement list following the death of his grandmother, followed by hitting a ball off the top of the right field wall.
Throwing errors by Garcia and shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. put runners on first and second in the ninth before Yates struck out Garrett Cooper and Brian Anderson. Castro then poked a flare into right field to bring in one run and send Rojas to third.
Rojas stole second on a 2-2 pitch that sailed high, meaning a single by Curtis Granderson would likely win it for the Marlins. But Yates struck him out on the next pitch.
