Unheralded Alec Mills throws a no-hitter for the Cubs against the Brewers

Instead, decidedly unheralded Alec Mills authored by far his career highlight, as he baffled the host Milwaukee Brewers. Over 114 pitches, Mills gave up three walks while striking out five in a 12-0 Cubs win that will be better remembered as the 16th no-hitter in the club’s history.

“It just hasn’t really hit me yet,” Mills said. “It’s kind of crazy, I didn’t even know how to celebrate. Just something that all came together today. Obviously a memory I’ll have forever.”

Mills joined Lucas Giolito of the crosstown rival White Sox, who accomplished the feat against the Pittsburgh Pirates last month, on the list of MLB no-hitters thrown this season. However, while Giolito, a former first-round pick by the Washington Nationals, was ticketed for stardom early in his career, Mills is a former college walk-on who has bounced around the fringes of MLB rotations.

The 28-year-Mills has only been starting for the Cubs this year because of a thumb injury suffered by Jose Quintana while the team was preparing for the coronavirus-delayed opening to the season. Over parts of four major league seasons, including a brief stint with the Kansas City Royals in 2016, he had accumulated a record of 5-4 in 27 appearances, with a 4.19 ERA.

Mills’s ERA was 4.74 over eight starts this season entering Sunday, but four of them were quality starts and he pitched well in his previous outing, throwing six scoreless innings against the Cincinnati Reds while scattering four hits. On Sunday, he executed his game plan masterfully, racking up inning after inning of weak contact while only inducing five swings and misses from the Brewers.

Not bad for a native of Clarksville, Tenn., who couldn’t get a scholarship right away at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Mills eventually became the Skyhawks’ ace, but after being drafted in the 22nd round in 2012 by the Royals, he had to overcome Tommy John surgery the following year.

“Never give up,” Mills said Sunday. “You know, some people are going to tell you you can’t do it or you’re not good enough. That’s just one person. So just keep working. Just persevere.”

Mills’s no-hitter was the first for the Cubs since Jake Arrieta threw one in each of the 2015 and 2016 seasons. It was the second no-hitter for the Cubs at Milwaukee’s Miller Park but, in another oddity, the first there against the Brewers; then-Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano had a 2008 no-no in Milwaukee against the Astros when Houston was forced from its home because of Hurricane Ike.

Before Zambrano’s feat, the Cubs had not had a no-hitter since 1972, when Milt Pappas and Burt Hooton each threw one for the club. The catcher for Arrieta’s 2016 no-hitter was David Ross, who is now the Cubs’ manager and who said Sunday he was happy just letting Mills “roll.”

“He was in control the whole day,” Ross said of his starter (via MLB.com). “You’re happy for them, their family. I know how much goes with that, comes along with that. That’s history. And when you get to make history, that’s a special, special day.”