Just like it did when he came up five outs short in late May, however, the Zephyrs' latest bid was unsuccessful.

Hand pitched six hitless innings and New Orleans carried the no-no into the eighth before settling for a 2-1 win over the Sacramento River Cats on Tuesday night.

"I've never been involved in [a no-hitter] that's been completed," Hand said. "I had another start earlier [against Albuquerque on May 29] when I had a no-hitter into the eighth and that was probably my best start. But this has to be up there in the top five.

"The first two innings I was a little bit all over the place, but then I found my rhythm and tempo, and all three pitches started working."

Brian Powell remains the only pitcher in New Orleans history to throw a no-hitter, blanking Omaha, 5-0, on May 6, 2001.

Hand, who threw 64 of 112 pitches for strikes, walked six batters and fanned eight before turning the no-hit bid over to the bullpen.

Right-hander Robert Ray struck out a pair in the seventh, but southpaw Dan Jennings was unable to keep it going as Jermaine Mitchell led off the eighth with a double to the wall in right-center field.

Hand worked around a two-out walk to Daric Barton in the first and tiptoed an even finer line in the second when he walked the bases loaded before getting Mitchell to pop up and end the inning.

"I was probably too fine. I wasn't attacking them," the 22-year-old left-hander said. "I was too quick and I wasn't staying through the baseball. [Sacramento] is a pretty good team, I think they have the best record in this league, so I wanted to get out of that second inning with one or less runs and give us a chance."

Hand settled down and retired 12 of his final 14 batters. After the second inning, no River Cat reached second until Mitchell's extra-base hit in the eighth.

"In those middle innings, I could get ahead with my fastball and then put them away with my curveball," said Hand, a 2008 second-round pick out of Chaska High School in Minnesota. "I wanted to stay in for the seventh because we had a no-hitter, but it's just one of those things. The manager and pitching coach won't let me go out there with 112 pitches."

Hand (10-5), who made one start for the Marlins earlier this month, won for the sixth time in his last seven decisions and lowered his ERA to 3.50. It was the 11th consecutive Triple-A start in which he pitched at least five innings. Since July 5, he's given up 10 runs over 43 2/3 innings for a 2.06 ERA.

Making his first start since June 29, Sacramento's Travis Banwart (8-4) allowed one run on two hits and a walk over four innings.

Kevin Mattison, the Marlins' No. 11 prospect, tripled and scored in the third, then provided the Zephyrs with insurance by singling home Shawn Bowman in the fifth.