Unblemished Unbelievable Ubaldo

Saturday was an eventful day in sports and there are an abundance of stories to cover. There’s the intriguing overtime recovery by the Capitals. There’s the epic 20 inning affair in St. Louis between the Cardinals and Mets. There’s the ripped and ripe Cavs bashing the Bulls in their playoff opener. And then there’s Ben Roethisberger. The Hawks outlasted the Bucks and the Nuggets nipped the Jazz, but the real headline grabber for Colorado-Atlanta was a Dominican right-hander. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched the first no-hitter of the season, and first in the 17 year Colorado Rockies’ history on Saturday. Jimenez blanked the Braves 4-0 at Turner Field and added an RBI single at the plate. The ace finished with seven strikeouts and six walks. He retired the last 15 batters he faced to notch his third win of the year.
Dexter Fowler made the biggest save of the day during a seventh inning grab on a Troy Glaus line drive to centerfield. Fowler snared the liner for the inning’s first out, and Jimenez continued to pound the strike zone with 98 mph pitches into the final frames. The 26 year old hurler’s no-no is the first in the majors since Mark Buehrle tossed a perfect game last July. Colorado collected a run in the top of the first against Atlanta’s Kenshin Kawakami. The Japanese pitcher gave up all four runs on eight hits through five innings in his first ever look at the Colorado Rockies. Troy Tulowitzki’s sacrifice fly to left field gave the Rockies their first tally. Jimenez singled to center in the top of the fourth to score Brad Hawpe. The Rockies’ starter scored on Carlos Gonzalez’s two run double to complete the scoring for the visiting team. Four runs were staunch and sufficient for the Rockies with the way Jimenez was firing fastballs. His ferocity was enough to no-hit the Braves for the 16th time in Atlanta’s franchise history.
Atlanta sent their 2-3-4 hitters to the dish in the bottom of the ninth. Braves’ second baseman and second hitter, Martin Prado, was riding a 14 game hitting streak into Saturday’s series with the Rockies. Jimenez promptly popped-up Prado and induced Chipper Jones into a left field fly out, leaving Brian McCann to represent the Braves’ last hope for a hit. McCann didn’t reach base either. The Braves’ backstop slapped a grounder to second base on the 128th pitch by Jimenez to end the game and preserve the no-hitter. Jimenez faced 31 batters and dominated the hill despite walking batters in each of the first five innings. The Colorado righty was a 15-game winner in 2009 and led the Rockies in strikeouts the past two seasons. Saturday he stole a memorable Mile High moment in Georgia. Carmelo Anthony may have posted a post-season career high Saturday, but Jimenez accomplished something never done in Colorado history.

Parting Points: Song of the day- Real McCoy’s “Another Night”