Verlander near perfect, K's 13

It was all about pitching Friday night, with four of the eight games ending in shutouts -- another two games had teams held to just a run -- but none better than Justin Verlander, who put up the most dominant start of the season so far in a near perfect game.

The Hillsborough ace tossed a one-hitter, defeating the Floating Fish, 2-0. He walked none and struck out 13, including the side in the 1st and six of the first seven batters. Just four outs were recorded via fly ball.

An error by first baseman Billy Butler to start the fifth and a single by A.J. Pierzynski leading off the sixth were the only blemishes that kept Verlander from achieving a perfect game. After Pierzynki's hit, Verlander proceeded to strike out six of the next eight batters, including the side in the sixth inning.

Verlander improved to 4-1 and lowered his ERA to a league-leading 1.23. The 13 Ks also gave him the league lead with 53, two better than Bridgewater rookie Brandon Beachy.

There were two no-hitters in the DMBL last year, most recently in June when Brett Myers, then with Las Vegas, beat New Jersey, 1-0, and in May Carolina phenom Stephen Strasburg shut down Philly, 5-0.

Hudson nearly no-hits Hitmen

Rookie Daniel Hudson on Sunday came within two outs of what would have been the third no-hitter in the DMBL this season. It would've been the second by a rookie, and the second for Las Vegas, this season. Hillsborough's Billy Butler singled down the left-field line with one out in the 9th, the second time he reached base in the 4-0 win for Last Vegas.

Hudson, acquired from New Jersey earlier this year, finished with five strikeouts and two walks. Butler led off the 7th reaching on an error before getting wiped out by a double play. Hudson walked Placido Polanco in the 3rd and Aubrey Huff leading off the 8th before plunking Polanco later in the 8th.

The top overall pick in this year's draft, Hudson was dealt to Las Vegas, along with Carlos Marmol, in exchange for five draft picks: a 3rd-rounder and a 5th-rounder in 2012, and 1st-, 5th- and 6th-round picks in 2013. Hudson improved to 13-9 on the season, 6-3 in 10 starts with a 1.93 ERA for the Rat Pack (he was 7-6 with a 4.17 ERA with New Jersey). It was his first shutout with Las Vegas; he had one with New Jersey as well.

Hudson's Rat Pack teammate, Brett Myers, no-hit New Jersey, 1-0, last month while fellow rookie Stephen Strasburg of Carolina no-hit Philly, 5-0, in May.

Battle of the Road Warriors

For the fifth straight time in the Newark-Hillsborough series, the road team has won - that's bad news for Newark, who has the home field "advantage" in this series. The Hitmen were all over the Sugar Bears in yesterday's game, pounding Newark for an 8-3 final score. Billy Butler was the star on offense, hitting 2 home runs and driving in 4. Overall the Hitmen only had one more hit than Newark (11-10), but they had 7 extra base hits compared to Newark's 2. Dan Haren pitched a solid game for Hillsborough, giving them 7 innings of one-run ball, striking out 7 and walking 2. The two teams travel back to Hillsborough for game 6 on Friday. Will the road teams' luck hold out and keep Newark alive? Or will Hillsborough reverse the trend and play in their first ever World Series?

Marietta and Carolina resume their series today in Carolina where we'll see a rematch of Game 1. As you may recall, the Mudcats shellacked the Mighty Men 11-0 in that game behind Roy Halladay's 4-hit performance. The Mighty Men will be hoping for a different result, no doubt.