Box Score

As befitting a week dominated by strong pitching performances, Hoboken's Joel Pineiro combined with reliever Mike Matthews to throw the third no-hitter in league history Sunday.

The Cutters got all the runs they needed in the second inning, when Brian Giles doubled and later scored on a Mike Piazza single. Ryan Klesko followed it up with a base knock of his own, then Garret Anderson slammed a three-run shot -- his 8th round-tripper on the season -- to make it 4-0.

Pineiro breezed through seven innings, but the no-hitter -- and the win itself -- looked doubtful in the eighth inning. After getting Richard Hidalgo to ground out to second, Ray Durham reached on an error by third baseman Jeff Liefer. Pineiro then walked pinch-hitter Darrin Fletcher to put runners on first and second with one out. Jeff Cirillo then flew out to shallow center, but Carlos Delgado followed with a two-out walk to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate -- none other than Alex Rodriguez.

Hoboken Cutters manager Wally Backman got up to pull Pineiro for closer Jason Isringhausen, but pitching coach Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh begged him to give the rookie a chance to get A-Rod.

"At that point, we couldn't think about the no-hitter. We had to think about the W," Backman said. "We'd lost five in a row, we'd fallen out of second place and we're already 9 games out. I wanted to pull the kid after he walked Delgado. I had visions of an A-Rod grand slam dancing in my head."

But Backman deferred to his pitching coach, and Pineiro coaxed the superstar shortstop into a harmless groundout to his opposite number, Omar Vizquel, to end the threat.

After the Cutters went 1-2-3 in the ninth, LaLoosh talked to Pineiro.

"I told him he was done," LaLoosh said. "He'd thrown 120 pitches and I knew he was just going on fumes."

With two tough lefties (Brad Fullmer and Matt Lawton) due up in the ninth, Backman sent Matthews, a southpaw, out to the mound to start the ninth. The Wanaque faithful, hoping to see either a no-hitter or a comeback, responded to the unexpected pitching change with a cascade of astonished boos.

The Wolverines tried a little strategy of their own, sending up two pinch-hitters in the ninth -- Mike Cameron for Fullmer and Tsuyoshi Shinjo for Lawton. But Cameron flew out to center, Preston Wilson struck out and Shinjo ended the game with a can-of-corn to Mark Kotsay.

The 23-year-old Pineiro improved his record to 3-2 with a 3.89 ERA with the win. He was not available for comment after the game, as he was furiously punching the water cooler.

It was the first no-hitter since Newark's Randy Johnson threw one against Kentucky on May 10, 2001, which remains the only official no-hitter in league history. In 1997, Juan Guzman and Mel Rojas of the New York Mets combined for a no-hitter over the Columbia Crusaders.