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Nationals' Zimmermann no-hits Marlins

Sep 29, 2014 - 12:22 AM Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - Washington's Jordan Zimmermann threw his first career no-hitter on the last day of the regular season.

Steven Souza punctuated it with one of the year's best catches.

Zimmermann struck out 10 to lead the Nationals to a 1-0 win over Miami on Sunday, getting a lot of help from his defense at the end.

After Adeiny Hechavarria grounded out to start the ninth inning, center fielder Michael Taylor caught Jarrod Saltalamacchia's fly ball in front of the warning track for the second out.

Christian Yelich then drove a 2-1 fastball to deep left, where Souza raced to track it down for an over-the-shoulder diving catch to end the game.

"I don't think anyone in the stadium expected Souza to get to that," Zimmermann said. "Somehow he turned it up another gear and got there."

The NL East champions stormed the field after the final out to congratulate Zimmermann (14-5), who allowed just one walk to win his eighth straight decision.

It was the franchise's first no-hitter since moving from Montreal to Washington in 2005. The last no-no thrown by a Washington team was by Bobby Burke for the Senators in a 5-0 win over the Boston Red Sox on Aug. 8, 1931.

"Give him a lot of credit," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said of Zimmermann. "He mixed up his pitches to keep us off balance and shut us down."

Ian Desmond homered in the second inning for the Nationals (96-66), who won four of their final five games heading into the postseason.

Henderson Alvarez (12-7) was on the losing side of a no-hitter on the last day of the season a year after doing it himself.

Alvarez, who famously was in the on-deck circle when the Marlins clinched his no-hitter with a walk-off 1-0 win over Detroit, allowed one run on 11 hits with no walks and three strikeouts over seven innings for the Marlins (77-85).

Desmond's homer to left-center field came with one out in the second. Bryce Harper followed with a double to center, but was left stranded.

Zimmermann was perfect until he walked Justin Bour with two outs in the fifth.

After Zimmermann fanned Donovan Solano and Casey McGehee to start the seventh, Garrett Jones also struck out but reached base on a wild pitch. He was picked off by Zimmermann to end the frame.

Game Notes

The last no-hitter in franchise history was thrown by the Expos' Dennis Martinez against the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 28, 1991 ... Denard Span set the Nationals' single-season hit record at 184 with a double in the third inning ... Marlins manager Mike Redmond had his contract extended through the 2017 season prior to the game ... Washington won the season series 13-6 ... Washington's regular five-man starting rotation ended the season with 13 straight wins.