Wells throws Newark's 2nd no-hitter

After two near misses for no-hitters the past two Sundays, Tyler Wells finished the job and threw the second no-hitter in Newark Sugar Bears' history but the first for the franchise in almost a quarter century.

Wells was masterful in a 4-0 road win over Livingston on Sunday, keeping the Sugar Bears a game ahead of Tucson in the Aaron Division and the top seed with about two dozen games to go in the season.

It's the 32nd no-hitter in DMBL history and the first for the Sugar Bears since way back in May 2001 when Randy Johnson no-hit the the Kentucky Hillbillies.

Wells faced off against Gerrit Cole, who only two weeks ago pitched 8 no-hit innings before getting the hook after a leadoff walk in the 9th. Wells, who turned 30 on Aug. 26, finished with 10 strikeouts and 2 walks while 121 pitches, 75 of his 121 pitches went for strikes (.619).

The only blemishes were a walk of Juan Soto to lead off the game and a walk of Max Muncy to lead off the 8th, which was eliminated via a 3-6 double play by the next batter, Rob Refsnyder. Starting the 5th inning, Wells retired four straight batters on fly balls to right field. In the 7th, Alex Kiriloff got as far as 2nd base thanks to an error by J.P. Crawford before Wells struck out Nolan Jones and Paul Goldschmidt to get out of the inning.

Cole was almost as good for the Lords of Swing, scattering 4 hits and 2 runs (1 earned) over 8 innings, with 8 strikeouts and 2 walks. But only two batters accounted for Newark's offense, and 5 of their 6 hits. The Sugar Bears plated a run in the 2nd after back-to-back doubles by C Tom Murphy and 1B Brandon Belt. They tacked on another in the 4th when Murphy reached on an error 2nd on an error, advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch, and came home on Belt's sac fly. In the 9th, the duo combined to put up insurance against RP Michael King with Belt homering after Murphy led off with a single.

Wells evened his record to 10-10 and improved his ERA to 4.02 while getting his WHIP below 1.00 to 0.98, second only to Vancouver rookie Cristopher Sanchez (0.93). He also held on to 2nd in HR allowed (44), trailing only to Bailey Ober of Blue Ridge (47).