(REUTERS) — His gem came on the first anniversary of the last no-hitter in the majors, by Boston’s Derek Lowe against Tampa Bay.
“It was one of those special days, and I don’t plan on doing it every time out, but it was a lot of fun,” Millwood said.
“I noticed it in the fifth, but it was like, well, I still got four innings to go,” he said.
Using a sharp fastball and a slow curve, Millwood kept Barry Bonds and the other Giants’ hitters off-balance throughout the afternoon — and kept the crowd of 40,016 cheering at Veterans Stadium.
Often overlooked in Atlanta, Millwood pitched behind Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.
Maddux (four), Glavine (two) and Smoltz (one) have seven Cy Young awards among them, but none has a pitched no-hitter. The trio has three one-hitters, two by Maddux and one by Smoltz.
“That was cool,” said Maddux, who watched on a clubhouse television as Atlanta played Milwaukee at Turner Field. “I really enjoyed it. I was probably more nervous than he was.”
Millwood retired Bonds three times, striking out the single-season home-run king in the seventh. Bonds hit a long drive to right that Bobby Abreu caught near the wall in the fourth.
Marquis Grissom came the closest to getting a hit, but center fielder Ricky Ledee raced back and made a leaping one-handed catch on his hard liner to right-center to start the seventh.
“I was just praying that Ricky would make a great play and he did,” Millwood said.
Grissom hit a routine fly ball to Ledee for the final out of the game. Ledee homered for the game’s only run.
Earlier in the ninth, Millwood retired pinch-hitters Neifi Perez and Marvin Benard before walking Ray Durham on a full count. Millwood retired 15 straight batters before the walk.
St. Louis’ Bud Smith, now a Phillies’ minor leaguer, pitched the last NL no-hitter against San Diego Sept. 3, 2001.
The Braves traded Millwood to the Phillies for catcher Johnny Estrada in December in a cost-cutting deal.
When Grissom lofted the final fly ball, Millwood (4-1) put his right finger up the air and held it there as Ledee made the catch.
Phillies newcomer Jim Thome was the first teammate to reach Millwood, coming over from first base and embracing the pitcher on the mound.
Catcher Mike Lieberthal hugged Millwood, and manager Larry Bowa pumped his fist as he ran from the dugout. But Bowa couldn’t get to Millwood as the Phillies surrounded him.
Millwood tipped his hat twice to the fans, who stood the last two innings to root him on.
The last Phillies pitcher to throw a no-hitter was Tommy Greene against Montreal May 23, 1991.
Philadelphia’s Terry Mulholland pitched the only other nine-inning no-hitter in Veterans Stadium history against the Giants Aug. 15, 1990.
Down in Atlanta, the Braves also cheered. Maddux was charting pitches in the clubhouse when he noticed what Millwood was doing through the early innings.
“I had a hard time watching our game. We had the Astros on, who we play next, and Millie throwing a no-hitter,” Maddux said.
Said Braves manager Bobby Cox: “I saw the end of Kevin’s no-no. That was sensational. You know, he flirted with that a lot here, through five innings.”
Ledee gave Millwood all the runs he needed with a first-inning homer off Jesse Foppert (0-2), who made his second major league start.
Foppert allowed one run and three hits in six innings. The right-hander gave up five runs in the first inning of a 5-3 loss to Pittsburgh in his first start.
