Hand's six no-hit innings leads Z's

Brad Hand did not allow a hit in six innings, and the Zephyrs' bullpen picked him up, with the help of a perfect relay throw in the eighth inning to cut down the potential tying run, and New Orleans took the series opener from the Sacramento River Cats on Tuesday night, 2-1.

The Zephyrs' win, coupled with a loss by Albuquerque, moved the Z's to within three games of the first place Isotopes with 20 games remaining.

Hand took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against Albuquerque on May 29 before allowing a double, but on Tuesday, only surrendered his bid at the first Zephyrs' no-hitter since 2001 because of pitch count.

Hand (10-5) labored through a long second inning that saw him walk the bases loaded before getting Jermaine Mitchell to foul out to escape the jam. By the end of the second, Hand had already thrown 53 pitches.

The southpaw settled down some from there, getting through the next four innings with two walks issued, also striking out eight batters before exiting with 112 pitches thrown.

With one out in the bottom of the third, Kevin Mattison laced a triple to the right field corner, and scored on an single from Gil Velazquez, taking a 1-0 lead.

New Orleans tacked on another run in the fifth as Shawn Bowman and Brett Hayes led off with singles. Mattison then singled beneath the glove of a diving second baseman Grant Green, scoring Bowman and increasing the lead to 2-0.

Sacramento rallied in the top of the eighth, leading off with a double to right-center field by Mitchell, who over-slid third base and was tagged out on the relay from right fielder Chris Coghlan.

Green drew a walk, and one out later, Kila Ka'aihue doubled, forcing reliever Dan Jennings from the game.

Rob Delaney came on and allowed a double into the gap in right-center by Anthony Recker to score Green, but pinch-runner Stephen Parker was thrown out at the plate on a relay throw by Mattison and Chase Lambin, ending the inning and preventing the tying run from scoring.

Jon Link, pitching for the fourth consecutive day and seventh game in the last eight, gave up one hit in the ninth, but buckled down to earn his seventh consecutive save.

Travis Banwart (8-4) took the loss for the River Cats, allowing one run and two hits with three strikeouts over four innings.

Right-hander Elih Villanueva will take the mound for New Orleans in the second game of the series Wednesday at 7 pm at Zephyr Field, and will be opposed by left-hander Brett Anderson, making a rehab start from the Oakland Athletics.