Liriano-No! Minnesota Twins Pitcher Francisco Liriano No-Hits White Sox

Francisco Liriano pitched Major League Baseball's first no-hitter of the 2011 season tonight against the Chicago White Sox.

Liriano, now 2-4 on the season, walked six batters while striking out two batters in his first career complete game.

Liriano's gem survived some trouble in the ninth inning.

Brent Morel started the inning for the White Sox with a grounder to the shortstop Matt Tolbert. Tolbert's throw to Justin Morneau was in the dirt, but Morneau scooped it out for the first out.

Liriano then walked Juan Pierre. Alexei Ramirez popped out to shortstop and Adam Dunn finally lined out to Tolbert to end the game after initially going ahead in the count 3-0.

Liriano, who threw 123 pitches in the game, was mobbed by his teammates on the mound in celebration.

Liriano's gem is the first no-hitter this season, following six no-hitters, including two perfect games in 2010.

The no-no is the fifth in Twins team history and the first since Eric Milton no-hit the Anaheim Angels on September 11, 1999.

Liriano had an impressive rookie season in 2006, going 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA, before missing all of 2007 after having undergone Tommy John surgery.

He struggled to regain his dominant form in 2008 and 2009 before a successful 2010 season, in which he went 14-10 with a 3.62 ERA and finished eleventh in American League Cy Young voting.

He has struggled early this season, but the no-hitter lowers his ERA to 6.61 and demonstrates that he is still capable of being the elite pitcher he was once highly touted to be in the American League Central.

Brandon McClintock covers Major League Baseball for BleacherReport.com. You can follow him on Twitter:  @BMcClintock_BR.