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| - Chicago Cubs pitcher Alec Mills threw the second no-hitter of the Major League Baseball season on Sunday, striking out five batters in a 12-0 victory at Milwaukee. The 28-year-old American right-hander had never thrown a complete game in the major leagues until silencing the Brewers batters, tossing 74 of his 114 pitches for strikes. "I have no idea yet (how I feel). It hasn't hit me," Mills said. "It just all came together today. Obviously, it's a memory I'll keep forever." The other no-hitter this season was thrown by Lucas Giolito of the Chicago White Sox, making this coronavirus-shortened campaign the first season in MLB history where pitchers from both Chicago teams threw a no-hitter. Mills, now 5-3, was making his ninth start of the season after throwing six scoreless innings against Cincinnati in his prior start. Mills walked three batters and only faced a total of 29 hitters, just two over the minimum. He threw 19 strikes on his first pitches to a batter and managed only five swinging strikes in the contest. It was the 16th no-hitter in Cubs history, the first since Jake Arrieta tossed one in 2016. The Cubs seized a 9-0 lead after five innings and Mills ensured there would be no response from the Brewers. Mills said he didn't realize he was tossing a no-hitter until after the seventh inning, when Milwaukee's Christian Yelich grounded out to third base, Keston Hiura flew out to right field and Daniel Vogelbach walked. Mills induced a pop up fly out from Jedd Gyorko to end the inning and begin his tension to the finish. "After the seventh is when I really felt it," Mills said. "The heartbeat went up and I had to calm it down." He retired the Brewers in order in both the eighth and ninth innings, striking out Tyrone Taylor and having Jace Peterson ground out to shortstop to conclude his mound masterpiece. At 28-20, the Cubs lead the National League Central division by 3.5 games over St. Louis. The Brewers fell to 20-24, 2.5 games behind St. Louis as well as San Francisco for the final NL wildcard playoff spot. js/gph
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