McCoy: Miley’s masterpiece ‘amazing to be a part of’

Working at his normal warp speed, Miley retired the first 16 Cleveland Indians, then lost his perfect game with one out in the sixth inning via an error.

He was near perfection all evening as only three balls left the infield during his 114-pitch night. There was nothing close to a base hit.

And his practically perfect performance was needed for him to record a 3-0 victory.

His pitching opponent, Zach Plesac, was unyielding. He held the Reds scoreless for eight innings on three hits and retired the last 15 batters he faced.

The Reds had scored one run in their last 27 innings when they came to top in the top of the ninth to face hard-throwing relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase.

Fate was on Miley’s side. Nick Senzel singled off Clase’s leg. Jesse Winker singled sharply to left field. Clase threw Nick Castellanos’ grounder to the mound into the outfield, an error on which Senzel scored. Clase then balked Winker home and Mike Moustakas singled home the third run.

Miley then took the mound and breezed through the bottom of the ninth effortlessly.

And he was mobbed by his teammates.

The game was delayed nearly an hour-and-a-half by rain and Miley amused himself by continuously telling his teammates the game was postponed by rain.

“I goofed around, like always,” he said. “I yelled, ‘Rained out,’ a couple of times, telling everybody they banged it. Position players were getting frustrated with me, but that’s what I do.”

He paused briefly and said, “David Bell came in and said it would start at 8:30. I tried to get him to play along, tell Mike Moustakas it was banged because Moose gets awfully mad at me when I say that.”

And then he said, “I’m definitely glad they didn’t bang it.”

As the game progressed and it became clear Miley was working with no-hit stuff, his seat in the dugout became a lonely place.

“The sixth inning. . .all my buddies left me,” he said. “I don’t like that. I don’t like thinking about pitching. I want to talk, talking about fishing or hitting. There was nobody to talk to. I saw D.J. (pitching coach Derek Johnson) scooting over two or three feet and I said, ‘C’mon, Deech.”

For a guy who loves to talk, speaking as rapidly as he works on the mound, Miley was finding it difficult to talk at first.

“It feels great to go out and give the team the opportunity to win,” he said. “What happened today is obviously pretty special. Not that I thought it was impossible, but it was so far-fetched. Just amazing to be part of that. I don’t know, I’m speechless. It still hasn’t sunk in.”

It sank in deeply to his catcher, Tucker Barnhart.

Asked what it means to him, he said, “The world. I’ve been pretty lucky to do some cool things personally in this game, win a couple of Gold Gloves. But this is far and away the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my career, for sure.”

It was obvious from the celebration of his teammates that they consider Miley a special guy.

“Without question he is very special,” said Barenhart. “He has been around a long time. His personality is so infectious. He is just a genuine great dude. I can’t say it any other way than that. Everybody in the locker room loves him.

“I’ve never really seen an entire team so happy for just one person in my career,” Barnhart added. “I’m very, very, very fortunate and grateful to be a part of that tonight.”

The Hulk tattoo? It was something his 4-year-old son, Jeff, applied to his forearm during Thursday’s off day and when it was suggested he have a real Hulk tattoo inked on his arm, he said, “I don’t know. I’m so scared of needles I don’t even want to think about this tattoo. I told my wife to order as many Hulk tattos as she can and I’ll slap one on there before every start.”

Twice in his career Miley took no-hitters into the seventh inning, only to lose it both times. His no-hitter is the first by a Cincinnati pitcher since Homer Bailey threw a pair, one against San Francisco and one against Pittsburgh.

And it was the fourth no-hitter thrown already in the majors this season.

As Miley passed Bell in a hallway, he said, “I need 12 days off. No, I’ll be ready in five.”

Miley, besieged by injuries last season and during spring training this year, shed a few tears on the field when hitting coach Alan Zinter said something to him.

“Me and ‘Z’ been together since 2008 when I got drafted by the Diamondbacks and he was there,” he said. “He looked at me and said he was so proud from where I’ve come. That immediately made me think of my family back home — my mom, my dad, my grandpa. . .a window to my whole childhood and what I’ve done.

“I’m so thankful. . .my aunts, my uncles, my brother,” he said. “All that hit me at one time. The love they’ve shown me and the support I’ve gotten. It all hit me at once when ‘Z’ said that. I got a little teary-eyed and moved on.”

It was the only thing that hit him all night.