Shelby Miller's Near No-Hitter Highlights Rapid Rise to Pitching Elite

There's agonizingly close, and then there's Shelby Miller's start Sunday against the Miami Marlins.

For 8.2 scintillating innings, Miller flirted with baseball immortality, allowing only a leadoff walk in the second inning (which was promptly erased by a double play) and keeping the Fish hitless.

Then, with one measly out left to get, backup first baseman and bench bat Justin Bour stroked a clean single up the middle. Speedy leadoff man Dee Gordon followed with an infield hit before Miller recorded the final out and sealed a complete-game, two-hit shutout that required only 94 pitches.

Not one for the record books, but still pretty darn impressive.

Interestingly, this wasn't the first time Miller came within one hit of history. Almost exactly two years ago, while pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Colorado Rockies, Miller surrendered a leadoff single before setting down 27 in succession, as ESPN Stats & Info notes:

That start was arguably more dominant, but it didn't carry the drama of Sunday's gem in South Beach.

No-hitters aren't a complete rarity in today's pitching-dominated MLB. We've seen 23 of them in the last three years alone, the same number that were thrown in the entire decade between 1996 and 2006, per ESPN.com.

But still, it's something special. If Bour's ball had nestled in the glove of an Atlanta Braves infielder instead of skipping into center field, it would be a story Miller's grandchildren might tell to their grandchildren.

As it is, it's simply another exemplary effort from a pitcher who's fast emerging as one of the game's elite arms.

Earlier this month, I highlighted Miller's strong start and how it's making the Braves look like early winners in the trade that sent outfielder Jason Heyward to St. Louis this winter. Heyward has picked it up a bit since then, raising his average nearly 30 points. 

But Miller has continued to look like the best player in that deal. His ERA now sits at an absurdly stingy 1.33, and he's allowed only one earned run in 25 innings, with 20 strikeouts and four walks over his last three starts.

In fact, Sunday's shutout was Miller's second this month; he put up nine zeroes against the Philadelphia Phillies May 5.

After that game, veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynski offered an almost-prescient quote to MLB.com's Mark Bowman and Todd Zolecki.

"Other than a perfect game or a no-hitter, this was pretty good," Pierzynski said. "[He] threw the ball and commanded every pitch. He was just in complete control of the game."

J Pat Carter/Associated Press/Associated Press

A first-round pick by the Cardinals in 2009, Miller posted a 3.06 ERA and won 15 games in 2013, finishing third in National League Rookie of the Year voting.

Last season, however, his ERA and walk rate rose, while his strikeouts dipped. And so, in their quest for offense, the Cards shipped him down south.

This year, CSNPhilly.com's Corey Seidman notes, Miller has begun using a sinker he learned from rotation-mate Justin Masterson in 2014 to augment his plus-fastball, which was still sitting in the mid-90s in the ninth inning Sunday.

Add it up and you've got a budding 24-year-old stud on the brink of ace status. An All-Star nod seems likely, and Miller has even helped an Atlanta team that looked to be in full-on rebuilding mode hang around .500.

Sure, he didn't nail down the no-no, not this time at least. If he keeps pitching like he has, though, he'll get another shot.

Maybe next time, agonizingly close will turn to history.

All statistics current as of May 17 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.