Matt Loosen tosses nine-inning no-hitter

DUNEDIN, FL - Matt Loosen threw the first Daytona Cubs nine-inning no-hitter in 17 years, when he shutdown the Dunedin Blue Jays on Monday at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.

"I felt really good from the start," Loosen said. "Things kind of flowed together from there and [Yaniel Cabezas] did a great job behind the plate. It's feels great!"

Loosen walked two Blue Jays and struck out a season-high nine in Daytona's 7-0 win. The Cubs scored all seven runs in the first three innings.

"Getting those runs was huge," Loosen said. "Especially with the heat out here today, it kept me in the dugout for a little longer and helped me get rest. Early-on, I walked a couple guys so the runs helped me concentrate on pounding the zone with fastballs and that made things a lot easier."

The no-hitter is the first nine-inning no-no for the Daytona Cubs since August 24, 1996 when Kerry Wood, Darold Brown and Brandon Hammack combined to no-hit Vero Beach.

Craig Muschko, Chris Siegfried, Oswaldo Martinez and David Cales combined to throw the last Daytona Cubs no-hitter (seven innings) on August 15, 2009 in game one of a doubleheader against, ironically, Dunedin at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

Loosen has been virtually unhittable over his last four starts for Daytona. Over 27 innings of work, Loosen has allowed a run on nine hits, with five walks and 31 strike outs. He is 3-0 with a 0.33 ERA over that stretch. He was named Florida State League Pitcher of the Week on June 24.

He attributes a lot of his recent success to Pitching Coach Storm Davis.

"Storm's been a huge help," Loosen said. "Every day I try to talk to him just to learn and get some information from him. He knows the game like no other and he has really helped me. Everything he has told me has really helped and it's come full-circle."

Dunedin had just two men reach second base in the game. Blue Jays LF Marcus Knecht walked and stole second in the first inning and SS Peter Mooney reached on an error and stole second in the sixth.

Cubs Manager Dave Keller said this is the first nine-inning no-hitter he has managed.

"I started to realize it in about the fifth or sixth," Keller said. "Then in the seventh, I became really superstitious. I had to stand in the exact same spot at the end of the dugout and tried my best to leave him alone."

According to Keller, Loosen's hard work and determination to improve from the beginning of the season is paying off.

"He totally deserved this," Keller said. "It's really cool for him the way he's been working and throwing for us recently."

Loosen threw 106 pitches in the effort. 

The Cubs scored a run in the first inning when CF Zeke DeVoss tripled off the center field wall to start the game, and 2B Wes Darvill plated him with a sacrifice fly.

Daytona added four more in the second thanks to RBI singles from C Yaniel Caezas and SS Elliot Soto.

In the third, up 5-0, RF Bijan Rademacher launched his first Daytona Cubs home run, a two-run shot over the right-center field fence.

With the win, the Cubs improved to 46-36 on the season and 11-5 in the second half. Daytona will begin a three-game series in Lakeland on Tuesday, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.