Lopez takes no-no into 6th inning in win

CLEVELAND -- Pablo López dared to dream as he walked out to the mound for the bottom of the sixth inning Tuesday night, his no-hit bid intact against the Indians.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about it,” he admitted. “But at the same time, I kept concentrating on the next pitch and the next batter. You can only control things you can control.”

Lopez surrendered a single to right by José Ramirez (reliever) with one out in the frame, ending his quest for a no-hitter after 5 1/3 innings, but he stayed strong and led the Miami Marlins to a 3-1 victory over Cleveland.

The right-hander, who struck out six, allowed two hits and an unearned run in a season-high 6 1/3 innings. Lopez induced 11 groundouts and only allowed two balls to reach the outfield in the sharpest performance of his two-year career.

“Oh man, he’s got a good fastball,” said Indians catcher Roberto Pérez, who whiffed twice against Lopez. “It was his night tonight. He attacked us. He got ahead of us and we just couldn’t capitalize with men in scoring position or whenever we had something going.

“You’ve got to tip your hat to him and come back ready to play tomorrow.”

Lopez (2-3, 4.44 ERA) earned his first win since March 30 against Colorado and his first road victory since July 21, 2018, at Tampa Bay. He had lost three straight starts before shutting down the 2018 American League Central champion Indians.

Despite his recent skid, Lopez has been remarkably consistent all season, pitching into at least the fifth inning and throwing between 84 and 89 pitches in all five of his outings. He was lifted after 86 against Cleveland.

“Pablo was able to use his offspeed pitches to get ahead in the count and slow them down all night,” Miami manager Don Mattingly said. “We had a chance to get him deeper if not for a couple of tough plays, but that will come. We went to the bullpen and the back-end guys were lights out.”

Adam Conley, Drew Steckenrider and closer Sergio Romo followed with 2 2/3 scoreless innings to lock up the Interleague win. It was Romo’s third save of the season, and the Marlins’ record improved to 7-16.

Lopez understands that the next step in his development is pitching deeper into games, and he is beginning to learn what it will take.

“When you face a lineup for the second or third time, you have to mix offspeed [pitches] with fastballs and keep the ball down,” Lopez said. “I have to stay on top of my two-seam fastball and keep the sinking action going, not the running action that they can get to.”

Miami took a 3-0 lead in the fifth on a leadoff homer by catcher Jorge Alfaro, with an RBI double from Curtis Granderson and a sacrifice fly by Martín Prado off Tribe reliever Neil Ramírez (0-1, 7.20 ERA) adding to the tally. Prado's single in the seventh inning was his 1,500th career hit.

Alfaro also called a strong game behind the plate, according to Lopez, and continued to build camaraderie with his 23-year-old hurler.

“Pablo has done a really good job making it easy for us as catchers,” Alfaro said. “He did a really good job recognizing swings and gave us an opportunity to win, to compete. It’s like that for everyone. We just try to go out there and play like a family. That’s all.”