Bucciferro comes painfully close to no-no

If you had told Tony Bucciferro before his outing on Sunday that he'd end his four-start losing streak by tossing a one-hit shutout, he'd have been beyond thrilled.

But after the final out of Class A Advanced Winston-Salem's 5-0 win at Frederick, "bittersweet" was the word Bucciferro kept coming back to. Although he'd just pitched the game of his life, the White Sox prospect was far from fulfilled.

That's because with one out in the ninth inning, Bucciferro's line did not yet include any hits. Two batters were all that stood between him and Winston-Salem's first no-hitter since 2009. At that moment, Glynn Davis sent a hard shot past Dash third baseman Nick Basto and into left field, ending the no-hit bid.

"It was kind of bittersweet, a little heartbreak," Bucciferro said. "My defense played nearly perfect, [helping me] keep my pitch count down and limit mistakes and whatnot. It was a big game. I wish [the outcome] could have [been different]. Even though a win and complete-game shutout is good, it's not the glory of a no-hitter. I've never had one before. A little heartbreak there, but overall it was a much-needed game."

The 24-year-old right-hander finished with four strikeouts and one walk, having thrown 103 pitches to register the first nine-inning complete game of his career. He induced a whopping 17 groundouts while getting three batters to fly out.

After surrendering the single to Davis, Bucciferro fired his last pitch of the game. Adrian Marin sent a bouncer toward second baseman to Joey DeMichele, who started a double play -- right after telling his pitcher that would happen.

"I was glad to end the game pretty quickly after I gave it up," Bucciferro said. "But overall, I'm happy that I threw well and got the win, had a complete-game shutout. It was my best career outing. It's a heartbreaker that I couldn't finish the no-no. But it is what it is."

The Keys had only two baserunners before Davis' ninth-inning single. Jerome Pena drew a two-out walk in the third inning and Davis got aboard on an error by Basto with two outs in the sixth.

"Needless to say, Bucciferro did everything that he could in his power to pitch that great game," Winston-Salem manager Tommy Thompson said. "It was a great complete game, a one-hitter. It was a shame we didn't get a no-hitter out of it. But you know what, he's had a couple tough starts. He had everything working tonight -- fastball in, fastball away, changeup, breaking ball. It was a tremendous effort by Tony Bucciferro tonight."

Through 20 starts, the Michigan State product is 7-9 with a 4.01 ERA. In the four outings that preceded Sunday, he went 0-4 with an 8.18 ERA.

"I was able to keep more of an even head throughout the whole game," Bucciferro said. "And plus, I was able to keep my pitch count down. But my stuff in general, it wasn't that different. My catcher [Mike Marjama], we have a plan that I haven't been doing. I haven't been pitching inside enough. We had this plan for the game, and especially early on in the game, we did it. We pitched exactly how we wanted to.

"I haven't been pitching the best, so today was a big bounceback for me."

Frederick starter Sebastian Vader (1-2) matched Bucciferro for five innings before the Dash got to him in the sixth. He gave up four runs and eight hits over 5 1/3 frames, walking one batter and striking out six.

Courtney Hawkins -- the White Sox No. 5 prospect -- and DeMichele both homered for Winston-Salem. Hawkins drove in two runs, while DeMichele, Basto and Keenyn Walker each contributed an RBI.