Tortugas' Mahle goes distance in no-hitter

There's dominance and then there's what Tyler Mahle accomplished Monday.

The Reds' No. 11 prospect tossed a nine-inning no-hitter as Class A Advanced Daytona beat Jupiter, 4-0, at Roger Dean Stadium.

Mahle allowed just one baserunner, hitting Brian Schales with a pitch with one out in the third. The 21-year-old right-hander followed by getting Justin Bohn to hit into a 5-4-3 double play and retired the next 18 batters to close out the first nine-inning no-hitter by one pitcher in the Florida State League since July 8, 2013, when Matt Loosen accomplished the feat for Daytona.

Gameday box score

"I was feeling good," Mahle said. "I wasn't feeling amazing, but I was confident going in that we had a pretty good idea on what these guys wanted to do. [Wendolyn] Bautista threw a great game yesterday and I tried to study that. I told my catcher [Chadwick Tromp], you know these guys from yesterday. It was the same catcher, I'm gonna trust what you put down and trust our defense.

"You just try not to overthink things. What each guy did in every at-bat and knowing what's working. Tromp did a really good job of doing that, I didn't have to shake him off very much. Not trying to throw balls past guys, just trying to make them get early contact and weak contact and hit the ball into my fielders' gloves."

Mahle struck out six, including Bohn to wrap up the 2013 seventh-round pick's first professional no-hitter.

"It was awesome," he said. "There's no better way to do it. That at-bat, I threw a slider and it didn't have any depth on it. I heard our pitching coordinator [Jeff] Fassero yell out, 'Hey, get on top of it,' and that's what I threw for the last pitch. It was a really good one thanks to him."

The California native had a feeling pretty early on that he was in the middle of something special.

"I kinda knew the whole time," Mahle said. "Just because we were so successful to start the game in our pitch sequence and pitch calling. Just from the start, I knew I hadn't given up a hit and it kept on going."

The 6-foot-4 hurler has been particularly effective in his last five starts, allowing five earned runs on 25 hits while striking out 31 over 33 innings. Mahle tops the circuit with 76 strikeouts and, with eight wins, he stands tied for the league lead with Bradenton's Austin Coley and Lakeland's A.J. Ladwig. His 2.50 ERA ranks 10th.

"Just getting my off-speed and fastball working together." he said of his success. "Working with my pitching coach and catchers [Tromp and Garrett Boulware]. I had both of the catchers last year, but this year is a new year, and I'm a little bit of a different pitcher. Stuff is coming along, so what we're doing is working."

Angelo Gumbs hit an RBI single and Gavin LaValley drove in a run with a groundout to give Mahle a 2-0 lead in the first. Aristides Aquino, the Reds' No. 22 prospect, slugged a two-run homer for insurance.

James Buckelew fell to 2-1 after allowing two runs -- one earned -- on six hits while fanning five over four innings for the Hammerheads.