Trio tosses Dragons' first nine-inning no-no

While charting Tony Santillan's near-perfect performance on Friday night, Scott Moss pondered what it would take to one-up his teammate.
"It's funny. You see a guy go perfect through, I think it was 6 1/3 [innings], it's kind of like seeing back-to-back home runs as a hitter," Moss said. "It's like, 'Well, how can I beat that?' And you really can't, but you can try your best to do the same."

Gameday box score
On Saturday, the Reds prospect combined with Carlos Machorro and Brian Hunter on the first nine-inning no-hitter in the team's 18-year history as the Dragons blanked Bowling Green, 2-0, at Fifth Third Field. Dayton's last no-hitter was a rain-shortened, five-inning effort by Johnny Cueto on May 13, 2006 against Wisconsin.
Across nine starts in his first full season, Moss is 6-1 with a 1.91 ERA and 62 strikeouts over 47 innings.

The 2016 fourth-round pick said he did not have a feel for his pitches in the opening frame Saturday, issuing two of his three free passes in a 25-pitch inning.
"The first inning, I was kind of fighting myself, through my mechanics at least. Honestly, I was thinking too much about mechanics instead of going out there and pitching," Moss said. "Just working around guys on base and knowing that I can get ground balls or flyouts and just throwing the pitches that I wanted to throw was the biggest key."
After a 1-2-3 second, the University of Florida product ran into trouble again in the fourth, issuing a one-out walk to Rene Pinto before hitting Robbie Tenerowicz. 
"It was very important, after a hit batter, just get back to your mechanics," Moss said. "Throw as many strikes as you can and hopefully get a ground-ball double play. It's just throw the pitches that you want and not try to fool the hitter -- beat them with your best stuff."

Moss got Josh Lowe to bounce out and Jonah Heim to fly to center to get out of the inning, beginning a streak of eight consecutive outs to finish the night for the 22-year-old left-hander. He walked three, hit two batters and struck out five over six innings, exiting with the no-hitter intact.
"As soon as I saw our manager give me a handshake, then I knew it was over," Moss said. "But I would want to plead with him, 'Let me ride, I have 84 pitches. I can go the entire game if I need to.' That's how good I felt tonight. It's just a fact that we need to get other guys in. Honestly, I think that was the better choice for the night."

Machorro took over and hurled a pair of perfect innings, striking out three, before giving way to Hunter for the ninth.
"With Macharro, I was actually inside doing the arm care and everything like that, getting my arm right and everything like that," Moss said. "For the ninth inning, I ran out to the dugout and saw the last three outs. I was just kind of yelling from the dugout, random things."
Hunter got Michael Brosseau to fly out to center before a seven-pitch punchout of Nathaniel Lowe. Pinto came to the plate and chopped the first pitch to third baseman John Sansone.
"The last pitch was kind of the scariest pitch of the night, actually," Moss said. "But as soon as I saw [Sansone] glove it, everyone started rushing out and I knew it happened."

Sansone tossed to first to retire Pinto and complete the seventh no-hitter in the Minor Leagues this season and second by a Reds affiliate. No. 9 prospect Tyler Mahle tossed a perfect game for Double-A Pensacola on April 22. 
"Honestly, I didn't even see the hit column until about the middle of the fifth," Moss said before recalling his immediate reaction to the final out. "You go straight to the catcher, Cassidy Brown, calling the right pitches and doing everything right as a catcher. And that's who you have to thank for this."
The Dragons got their runs on an RBI single by Hector Vargas in the second and a run-scoring double by Tyler Stephenson -- the Reds' No. 7 prospect -- in the third. Stephenson finished 3-for-5 to raise his batting average to .294.