Blue Jays' Morrow so, so close to no-no, shuts out Rays

TORONTO - Brandon Morrow wasn't about to hang his head after coming within inches of a no-hitter. The Blue Jays righthander still tossed his first shutout - first complete game, in fact - and struck out a career-high 17 batters.

"Those things combined were more than enough to overcome the feeling of the missed no-hitter," said Morrow, who allowed only Evan Longoria's single with two outs in the ninth inning in a 1-0 victory that finished off a sweep of Tampa Bay Sunday. "That would have been a great feat, but I'll start at a complete-game, one-hit shutout with 17 strikeouts."

He forgot to mention the 137 pitches with only two walks.

Dave Stieb threw the only Blue Jays no-hitter on Sept. 2, 1990, at Cleveland. The franchise record for strikeouts is 18, set by Roger Clemens against Kansas City on Aug. 25, 1998.

Longoria said Morrow deserved the no-hitter, given the way he dominated with a devastating breaking pitch and a mid-90s fastball. "He was putting guys away better than anybody I've ever seen," Longoria said.

The crowd of 22,313 gave Morrow a standing ovation as he took the mound in the ninth. Jason Bartlett flew out to center, Ben Zobrist walked on four pitches and Carl Crawford flew out to left. Longoria then grounded a 1-and-1 pitch to second.

Aaron Hill scooted to his left and made a dive as the ball took its third hop, and it fell out of his glove and trickled away as he hit the ground. "He threw a four-seam fastball away that I fouled off and I saw him shake on the pitch that I got the base hit on, so I just kind of guessed fastball away again," Longoria said. "With the walk and the runner on, that four-hole was open and it just gave me enough room."

Official scorer Dave Perkins, a retired Toronto Star writer working just his third game, wasted no time in making the call. "I won't lose any sleep over it," Perkins said. "That's a base hit all the way."

A disconsolate Hill needed time to cool off before facing reporters. "Did everything I could, couldn't come up with it," he said. "Wish I could have gotten an error or something for it."

Morrow was drifting toward first, saw the ball get loose and sagged a bit, putting his hands on his thighs. He then started toward third to back up the play - quick thinking in a 1-0 game.

Manager Cito Gaston came out but never seemed to consider lifting Morrow. Instead, Morrow struck out Dan Johnson swinging to end it. Said Morrow, "Cito gave me that chance to calm myself and refocus and say, 'Hey, I still got a chance to throw a shutout and get a 1-0 win and a big division sweep.' "

Vernon Wells drove in the only run before leaving with a dislocated toe, an injury he suffered when he made a leaping catch against the wall in the sixth. He stayed down briefly before jogging slowly off the field.

Morrow got a cooler of water dumped on him by celebrating teammates after writing another chapter in the year of the pitcher. There already have been five no-hitters this season - including two perfect games - and three others broken up in the ninth inning.

The Rays, who have lost a season-high five straight, came close to being involved in their fourth no-hitter of the season. Matt Garza threw the first no-hitter in Rays history against Detroit on July 26, and Tampa Bay was on the short end against Arizona's Edwin Jackson on June 25 and Oakland's Dallas Braden on May 9, when he finished off a perfect game.

"I was beginning to think no-hitters were kind of commonplace," Longoria said. "It seems like we've been a part of and watched so many this year."

- AP