ARMCHAIR COMMENT

Weller caps 4th on 4th with a no-hitter

BY RALPH MORROW

MANAGING EDITOR

Key West grad Blayne Weller achieved every pitcher’s dream Thursday night: A no-hitter. The 6-5, 220-pound 24-year-old South Bend righthanded hurler stopped Dayton, 7-1, allowing only the Class A Midwest League opponent an unearned run on two walks, while striking out 12 over nine innings, before 9,493 at Dayton’s Fifth Third Field.

“Oh, man, I can’t wait to pitch again. It’s an awesome feeling,” the Conch told MILB writer Josh Jackson as he improved his season record to 5 wins against 4 losses and lowered his earned run average of 4.03. “It reminded me why I love baseball, why the successes feel so great even throughout all the failures and the hard times.”

In the second inning, Weller gave up a leadoff walk to Phil Ervin, who stole second and scored on a two-out throwing error by shortstop Andrew Velazquez. But Velazquez made up for that miscue, tripling and walking three times as he extended his on-base streak to 69 games – just two games short of the Minor League record set by Kevin Millar in 1997 and tied by Kevin Youkilis in 2003.

Velazquez was apologetic about the error. “Luckily (Weller) was able to keep going and still throw the no-hitter,” the shortstop told the writer. “He’s got nasty stuff.” The radar gun at Fifth Third clocked Weller at 95 mph in the ninth inning.

“Walks are going to happen,” said Weller, who’s in his seventh Minor League season and who played in independent ball in 2012 and part of 2013. “Errors are going to happen. You keep pitching. What’s one walk and one run compared to (a no-hitter)?”

Weller, after starting the season as a relief pitcher, has of late been strictly a starting pitcher. On the Fourth of July, he started his ninth game in a row for the Silver Hawks and picked up his fourth victory, a 6-2 triumph over Lake County.

After giving up a home run with a runner on base in the first inning, he set down Lake County without any more damage through six innings, allowing but four hits and a walk while striking out nine at the Indiana ball park.

Weller was drafted by the Minnesota Twins after KWHS’s 2008 season, but now pitches in the Arizona Diamondback system. He has 91 strikeouts against only 29 walks in 82 innings.

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