A look back at the 2011 draft, Part 1

Drafts are often graded almost immediately but everyone knows you can't truly grade a draft completely for a few years. So, in honor of the 2021 draft on Saturday, here's a look back at the 2011 DMBL draft.

Jimenez, Motte Combine For League's 10th No-Hitter

They'll be debating this one in Sardine City for years to come. The first no-hitter in franchise history was a combined effort with starter Ubaldo Jimenez and reliever Jason Motte splitting the duties as they shut down Hillsborough 8-0 on the road Tuesday night at Front Stadium by the River.

It's the 10th no-hitter (4th combined) in league history and the first since Brett Myers of Las Vegas no-hit New Jersey in June 2011. It's the first combined no-hitter since 2004 when Arkansas shut down Westwood behind Curt Schilling, Byung-Hyun Kim, Brad Lidge and Octavio Dotel. Hillsborough is the first team to be no-hit twice in their history, first victimized in 2003 by Phoenix's John Lackey.

Jimenez struck out four in five innings of work, tossing 55 pitches (40 for strikes), but still was lifted by Straphangers skipper Joe Torre after a 46-minute rain delay. Torre turned to Motte, who went on to throw four scoreless innings striking out two but walking three and throwing 38 of his 55 pitches for strikes. He earned his first save of the year as Jimenez got the win, improving to 10-11.

The only scoring for much of the contest came on rookie Eric Hosmer's leadoff home run in the 2nd inning. Sardine City third basemen Evan Longoria walked to start the 6th inning and that's when the rains came. When play resumed, Hillsborough manager Mike Greenwell didn't come back with ace Justin Verlander. Instead, he opted for Jeff Samardzija, who would get out of the inning unscathed, despite a wild pitch and another walk.

The Straphangers put up a four-spot in the 8th, including a three-run homer by Starlin Castro, and another three runs in the 9th behind run-scoring singles from Matt Wieters and Nick Markakis off Jonny Venters.

Verlander suffered the loss, dropping to 14-6, despite allowing just one run and four hits over five innings. He struck out four and walked one and threw 55 of his 84 pitches for strikes. Verlander nearly threw his own perfect game earlier this year against Hopatcong, settling for a 2-0 one-hitter.