CLEVELAND - Cincinnati Reds starter Wade Miley's 4-year-old son, Jeb, convinced him to put a temporary tattoo of the Incredible Hulk on his right forearm for Friday night's game against the Cleveland Indians.
Dad might need to get some permanent ink.
"I've got no muscles at all," Miley said with a smile. "Maybe this gave me some strength."
The 6-foot, 220-pound left-hander sure pitched like a super hero.
The 34-year-old Miley tossed Major League Baseball's second no-hitter in three days - and fourth already this season - leading the Reds to a 3-0 win over the Indians, who were held hitless for the second time in a month.
Miley (4-2) relied on breaking pitches and his experience of 11-plus seasons in the majors to baffle Cleveland's bats and throw the Reds' 17th no-hitter but first since Homer Bailey in 2013.
"It's so far-fetched," said Miley, who has played for seven teams and is in his second season with Cincinnati, the parent club of the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts. "I'm speechless. It still hasn't sunk in."
The easygoing Miley said he shook off an 83-minute rain delay to start the game by "goofing off" in the clubhouse. He then followed the Baltimore Orioles' John Means - who came within a wild pitch of perfection as he no-hit the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday - to continue an early run of pitching gems in 2021.
It's quickly becoming the Year of the No-No. Miley's joined the club that was started when Joe Musgrove who threw the first no-hitter in San Diego Padres' history in a road game against the Texas Rangers on April 9. Five days later, Chicago White Sox left-hander Carlos Rodón blanked the Indians, just missing a perfect game when he hit a batter in the ninth inning.
The Arizona Diamondbacks' Madison Bumgarner pitched a seven-inning no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves on April 25, but that one isn't recognized as official because it didn't go nine innings.
This is the earliest in a calendar year there have been four no-hitters since 1917, when the fourth was thrown on May 5 and the fifth on May 6. It's no wonder, with hitters entering Friday batting a record-low .233 this season.
Miley was in control from the start. He coasted through five innings and carried a perfect game into the sixth, when he began to realize history could be made. One of the team's most popular players, Miley said the zeros on the scoreboard quickly made him an outcast in his own dugout.
"All my buddies left me," the Louisiana native said with a laugh. "I don't like that. I don't like thinking about pitching. I want to talk about something else, talk about fishing, talk about hitting, There was nobody to talk to."
In the ninth, Miley retired pinch-hitter René Rivera on a lazy fly to right, struck out César Hernández and then retired Jordan Luplow on a grounder to third before he was mobbed by the Reds, who encircled him and danced across the grass.
"I will never forget that," Reds manager David Bell said. "I will never forget the look on Wade's face. I'm so glad he's enjoying every moment."
The Indians joined a dubious list by becoming the 17th team to be no-hit twice in the same season and the first since the Mariners in 2019. Miley struck out eight batters and walked one in a 114-pitch outing as he improved his career record to 88-87.
"He kept us off balance," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "He touched 90 (mph) once tonight, but he put on a clinic. I mean he cut the ball in on the righties, threw a changeup, threw a four-seamer in, he just went back and forth."
While Miley was blanking the Indians for the 309th no-hitter in MLB history, Zach Plesac did the same to the Reds for eight innings before Cincinnati pushed three runs across in the ninth, helped by Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase's throwing error and a balk.
The Reds got a pair of singles before Clase (2-1) fielded an infield tapper and threw wide of second base, allowing Nick Senzel to score from second. Then with runners at the corners, Clase began his windup before stopping and tried to throw to second.
Mike Moustakas, starting at first for the injured Joey Votto, followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0 and give Miley, who battled injuries last season after joining the Reds, more cushion - but also more time to think about it in the dugout.
"That's probably when I felt it the most," said Miley, who became emotional afterward while thinking of family back home. "We scratched across three runs, and it was going kind of slow. I didn't want to throw in the hallway because I was pretty tired, but at the same time I wanted to stay loose. But I was able to get three pretty quick ones."
Working quickly on a cool, damp night, Miley coasted through five innings and didn't allow a baserunner until the sixth, when Amed Rosario reached on second baseman Senzel's fielding error and then went to second on his throwing error.
Miley also walked Hernandez with two outs in the inning, but he regrouped by getting Luplow on a liner to left.
Franmil Reyes came the closest to getting a hit for the Indians, but his hard smash in the fifth was right at shortstop Kyle Farmer, who knocked it down and had plenty of time to throw out the slow-footed slugger.
When it ended, the delighted Reds jumped in a circle around Miley, who was previously most famous for a game in which he hardly pitched. Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell used him as a decoy starter in Game 5 of the 2018 National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Miley faced one batter before Counsell went to the bullpen.
Miley then took the ball for Game 6, becoming the first pitcher in 88 years to start consecutive postseason games.
"I don't know that I've ever been a part of anything where it was this joyful and truly authentically happy for one player," Bell said. "What an incredible performance."