Hamels throws no-hitter in possible last start for Phillies

CHICAGO - If Saturday marked Cole Hamels' final start in a Phillies uniform, he will have left his longtime club at his best.

Six days before baseball's trade deadline, Hamels delivered his first career no-hitter, the 13th in franchise history, in the Phillies' 5-0 win against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Two walks were the lone blemishes in an incredible - and incredibly timely - performance for the Phillies ace and top trade chip.

"Just a surreal moment," Hamels said. "Nothing will top winning a World Series, but I think this is probably on that top list. That's right under it."

Hamels became the first pitcher to no-hit the Cubs since Sept. 9, 1965, the date of Sandy Koufax's perfect game and then-record-setting fourth no-hitter. Hamels' was the third no-hitter in the major leagues this season, after the San Francisco Giants' Chris Heston and Washington Nationals' Max Scherzer.

The eighth and ninth innings produced the only two close calls for Hamels. Odubel Herrera, the rookie centerfielder, dramatically caught the final out of the game, sticking out his glove while falling down onto the warning track after overrunning a deep Kris Bryant fly ball. An inning earlier, the Rule 5 draft pick made a running catch on a David Ross fly ball to the left-center-field gap.

"Thank goodness the wind was blowing in," Hamels said of the final out.

The former World Series MVP's signature regular-season performance came against a potential suitor ahead of the 4 p.m. Friday non-waiver trade deadline. At Murphy's Bleachers, a Wrigleyville bar just outside Chicago's iconic ballpark, the letters on a sign outside read, "TRADE FOR HAMELS NOW."

"He definitely increased his value, I would imagine," Cubs manager Joe Maddon quipped. "You're going to get that higher-tier prospect because of that performance today."

Hamels' 13 strikeouts were three more than his previous season high. Both of his walks were issued to Chicago leadoff hitter Dexter Fowler, in the first and sixth innings. Between the free passes Hamels retired 17 consecutive Cubs. All six of his outs in the sixth and seventh innings came on swinging strikeouts.

Phillies interim manager Pete Mackanin thought Hamels' curveball was the best he had ever seen it. The pitcher opened the game with his best velocity of the season, routinely registering 94 and 95 m.p.h. on the stadium radar gun and several times touching 96.

Carlos Ruiz, who joined Boston's Jason Varitek as the only catchers on the receiving end of four no-hitters, said he began thinking his longtime battery mate could accomplish something special in the sixth inning.

Hamels, who threw 129 pitches, said the possibility that Saturday's was his last start as a Phillie was "not in my thought process." He was focused on correcting his pitching, he said, after allowing 14 runs and 20 hits and lasting only 61/3 innings combined over his last two starts.

The Phillies' seventh win in eight games since the all-star break was their top pitcher's first victory since May 23. While lowering his ERA from 3.91 to 3.64, he added to his historic day with an eighth-inning double.

Surely helping him settle in early, Hamels pitched with a lead for all but the first two innings. Ryan Howard provided his longtime teammate with early support, unloading on Jake Arrieta's curveball for a three-run home run in the third inning. The Phillies added two more runs in the eighth, when Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo errantly threw a ball into left field after a Freddy Galvis bloop hit.

"Today was vintage Cole Hamels," Mackanin said. "Other than that combined no-hitter last year, to be perfectly honest with you, I think it's overdue."

Hamels, who pitched the first six innings of last season's combined Phillies no-hitter, had never pitched more than 62/3 no-hit innings. He accomplished that on Sept. 16, 2006, in the 21st start of his rookie season. His is the Phillies' first no-hitter by a single pitcher since Roy Halladay's postseason no-no against the Cincinnati Reds on Oct. 6, 2010.

Whether it was his last outing with Philadelphia will remain a topic of conversation until the next time he takes the mound. On normal rest, his next start would come Thursday, but after throwing a season-high in pitches the Phillies could give him an extra day of rest, lining him up to next pitch three hours after the trade deadline.

Asked what he felt Saturday's start meant for his trade value, Hamels smiled and said, "I have no clue. That's up to you guys to write about."

Mackanin joked in his postgame news conference that he would be surprised if general manager Ruben Amaro Jr.'s phone "isn't off the hook right now."

"That's kind of tough to really answer because right now I'm wearing the Phillies red and that's where I've planned to play. So I think that's kind of all I can really do," Hamels said when asked if he could envision himself pitching for the Cubs.

"It's out of my control. I try to wake up every day and drive to Citizens Bank Park and play with the big P on my chest. That's kind of what I've done since the moment I got drafted by them, and that's what I'm going to continue to do until somebody says no."

@jakemkaplan