Weiland strikes out career-high 12

One bad pitch was all that separated Kyle Weiland from a run at history.

Weiland took a no-hitter into the sixth and recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts over eight one-hit innings Wednesday as the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox beat the Rochester Red Wings, 4-1.

The 24-year-old right-hander plunked two batters over the first five innings, then hit Danny Lehmann leading off the sixth. After Brandon Roberts and Trevor Plouffe were retired, Lehmann advanced on a passed ball by Luis Exposito and scored on Dustin Martin's single -- the only hit the Red Wings managed off Weiland.

"I had all four pitches tonight and for the most part I had the command on all four of them, except for the few times I didn't and hit guys," Weiland told The Providence Journal. "Unfortunately, one of those scored. But other than that, it's one of those things where [when] you come out early and it's there and you don't have to find it, it's just a confidence booster. And you can get on a roll after that."

Weiland (7-6), a 2008 third-round Draft pick, faced four over the minimum in his longest outing of the season, throwing 70 of 99 pitches for strikes. He retired the last seven batters he faced.

Weiland moved into second place in the International League with 93 strikeouts. He also ranks second with a .203 opponents' batting average.

"That's the guy we saw for about six weeks last year that can come out and really trust his stuff and pound the bottom of the zone and just get ahead of guys," Pawtucket manager Arnie Beyeler told the newspaper. "He's fun to watch. He goes right at guys and gets a lot of ground-ball outs. He has pretty electric stuff."

Michael Bowden allowed a hit and struck out two in the ninth to earn his sixth save.

Hector Luna homered and scored twice, while Jose Iglesias -- MLB.com's No. 35 prospect -- added two hits and a run scored. Daniel Nava went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI and has hit safely in 17 of his last 19 games.