Mike Fiers no-hits Dodgers in 1st career complete game, 3rd Astros start

HOUSTON -- Growing up, Mike Fiers remembers watching Nolan Ryan throw no-hitter after no-hitter.

After pitching his first one Friday night, Fiers finally got to meet the man who spun so many gems.

Fiers pitched the second no-hitter in the major leagues in nine days, leading the Houston Astros to a 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ryan, who threw a record seven no-hitters -- but just one while pitching for Houston -- is now an Astros executive and applauded from a suite as Fiers was mobbed by his teammates near the mound after finishing the 11th no-hitter in Astros history.

Ryan went down to the dugout to welcome Fiers into a most fancy fraternity -- the No-Hit Club.

"Nolan threw seven of them, seven no-hitters, so at that point you're like: 'It kind of looks easy,'" Fiers said. "Then you get to this point, and obviously, it's not. And it doesn't happen all the time. For him to congratulate me, coming down in the dugout was something really special ... what a pitcher he was."

Fiers (6-9) struck out Justin Turner on his 134th pitch to end it and threw his glove high into the air for his first career complete game and the fifth no-hitter in the big leagues this season. Seattle's Hisashi Iwakuma tossed a no-hitter Aug. 12.

"It was like a dream," Fiers said. "You throw the last pitch. You feel the emotion of everything you've been through in your life."

Fiers said his exhaustion didn't hit him until he threw his last pitch.

"After I got that last out, everything kind of hit me," he said. "Once you're in that moment, you don't feel anything really. You're going off adrenaline at that point."

Manager A.J. Hinch said he never really considered pulling Fiers.

"I think his best fastball might have been in the ninth, with adrenaline pumping," Hinch said. "He earned every opportunity to finish that."

Fiers said the team would have had to throw him in the clubhouse and lock him in for him to come out of the game.

Philadelphia's Cole Hamels, San Francisco's Chris Heston and Washington's Max Scherzer also have thrown no-hitters this season.

A night earlier, the Astros were on the wrong end of a gem, getting just a fifth-inning single against Tampa Bay's Chris Archer.

Acquired by the Astros at the trade deadline to help with their playoff push, Fiers has been stellar in his first two starts for Houston. This was something else, though.

Having never even gotten an out in the ninth inning in his five-year career, Fiers was dominant. He struck out 10 and walked three, retiring the final 21 batters.

Since 1962, the Astros' first season in Major League Baseball, the only team to throw more no-hitters is, coincidentally, the Dodgers. The Dodgers have been no-hit 18 times, tied with the Phillies for most in baseball.

Fiers (1-0) needed little help from his defense until Jake Marisnick had to sprint to catch a long fly ball by Jimmy Rollins just in front of the bullpen in right field for the first out of the ninth inning.

Fiers crouched in relief, then pointed out to his teammate.

"There's a little more urgency. You don't want to let anything drop out there," Marisnick said. "Just go and get it."

The closest the Dodgers came to breaking it up was in the sixth inning, when Turner's towering shot to left with two outs hooked foul.

"The fact that you get no-hit is kind of like icing on the bad part of the cake," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "I think at the end of the day it's a loss, and you have to get over it. You can't afford not to."

The Dodgers' lead in the NL West fell to 1 1/2 games over theSan Francisco Giants. The Astros lead the AL West by 3 1/2 games.

Marisnick gave the Astros a 2-0 lead in the second with a two-run homer off the left-center facade. Evan Gattis hit a solo home run to left in the sixth.

Brett Anderson (7-8) allowed three runs on seven hits with five strikeouts in six innings for Los Angeles.

Fiers, 30, allowed a walk in each of the first three innings but didn't allow a baserunner after walking Joc Pederson to start the third.

"My command was off a little early, I just tried to stick with it, I knew it was going to come," Fiers said. "This game is all about playing for your teammates, guys on the field with you."

After that, he repeatedly had the Dodgers fooled with a nasty curveball and changeup to complement a fastball in the low 90s.

It was the first no-hitter by one Astros pitcher since Darryl Kile blanked the Mets on Sept. 8, 1993. Six Houston pitchers combined to throw one against the Yankees on June 11, 2003.

Fiers' no-hitter comes after a tough year in 2014, including a September game in which he hit Miami's Giancarlo Stanton in the face with a fastball.

Fiers was acquired with Carlos Gomez from Milwaukee on July 30 and has been rejuvenated by the move from a last-place club to the top of the AL West. He allowed just one earned run over 12 innings in his first two starts for Houston.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Fiers is the first player since Jim Bibby in 1973 and one of only six players since 1900 to throw a no-hitter after changing teams midseason.

Fiers was a 22nd-round pick of the Brewers in 2009. He made his major league debut in September 2011 and spent his entire career with Milwaukee before the recent trade.

The Brewers, who beat the Nationals 10-3 on Friday night, stayed in uniform after the game to watch Fiers' final outs.

"We were all watching," second basemanScooter Gennettsaid."We're all extremely happy for him, and he's obviously a good pitcher. It was nice seeing him out there and having such a great day."

The Brewers got a key two-run home run Friday fromDomingo Santana, a player received in the trade that sent Fiers to the Astros last month.

"It's exciting," said Santana, who was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs before Friday's game. "It's good for them that they are doing good (in Houston), but at the end of the day I'm just trying to be here and do my job."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Dodgers: OF Yasiel Puig (right hamstring) ran before Friday's game, and Mattingly said he expected Puig to play in the three-game series against Houston. .. IF Howie Kendrick (left hamstring) did some running and drills Friday, but Mattingly said the Dodgers don't expect him back before Sept. 1.

UTLEY MAKES DEBUT

Chase Utleymade his Dodgers debut Friday after being acquired Wednesday from Philadelphia. Utley batted second and was the designated hitter, but Mattingly said he could play some third base once second baseman Kendrick returns from the disabled list.

"Obviously, he's a guy that we have had a lot of respect for over the years," Mattingly said. "He's a guy that's tough. He's a good player. He gives us an option at second. Probably try to work him in to see how comfortable he would be at third to give (Turner) a day off there after Howie's back. I feel good about having him on our roster."

UP NEXT

Dodgers: RHP Zack Greinke (13-2) looks for his ninth straight win Saturday in the second game of the three-game series. Greinke is 8-0 with a 1.16 ERA in his past 11 starts and leads the majors with a 1.58 ERA.

Astros: LHP Scott Kazmir (6-8) will look to rebound after allowing six runs over 5 2/3 innings in his previous start Monday -- a 9-2 loss to Tampa Bay.

The Associated Press and ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.