Pelicans' Locke flirts with no-hitter

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Pelicans' Locke flirts with no-hitter
04/25/2009 9:19 PM ET
By Daren Smith / MiLB.com

Jeff Locke came up with his best performance of the season on Saturday. That the Red Sox were simultaneously beating the hated Yankees at Fenway Park was just icing on the cake.
Locke took a no-hitter into the seventh and ended up pitching 6 2/3 impressive innings for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, who squandered a two-run lead in a 3-2 loss to the Salem Red Sox.
The 21-year-old southpaw showed no signs of the control problems that bothered him in a pair of ineffective outings, facing one batter over the minimum through the sixth.
"My first two years of pro ball, I only walked 12 guys," he noted. "I came out two outings in a row and put guys on with free passes. So I did a lot of work in the bullpen, completely changed some things to be more balanced."
After striking out the side in the sixth, Locke surrendered a leadoff single to Kris Negron.
"It was a seed, it was hit pretty hard," Locke admitted. "I wanted to go fastball inside, but the ball cut right back across the plate and he hit it hard."
Asked if he was aware of the no-hitter, he said, "I had a pretty good idea. It's pretty tough not to know. I never carried one in the Minor Leagues that long. Things definitely have to go your way."
Two outs later, Chih-Hsien Chiang doubled home Negron to get Salem within 2-1 and end the evening for Locke. He was charged with one run on two hits and two walks while recording a season-high seven strikeouts.
"My performance, that has to make me feel good coming off two outings that weren't so good," Locke said. "I pitched real well today. At times -- I issued a couple of walks -- I got too cute, trying to nibble a little bit. I was happy with myself."
Locke wanted to build off the effort of teammate Edgar Osuna, who yielded four hits over 6 1/3 innings in Friday's 1-0 blanking of Salem. But the New Hampshire native admitted to a little pregame anxiety.
"I was real nervous coming into the game today, possibly because I'm one of the biggest Red Sox fans and we were playing their affiliate," he said.
And while Locke -- a 2006 second-round pick of the Braves -- was setting down their Carolina League affiliate, the Red Sox were manhandling the Yankees, 16-11, up in Boston.
"The Red Sox won and I threw great, but we still lost," he said. "In the end, it was kind of a lost cause."

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.