Duck tales: Robert Stock gives family something to chat about with no-hitter

It took only three innings for Robert Stock to realize he was throwing a no-hitter.

But it wasn’t until the eighth inning when it felt incredibly attainable. So he locked in and made it happen.

“My family’s all in a group chat, and I know that they’d be excited,” Stock said. “So I was thinking that I got to make it happen so they don’t make fun of me for blowing it.”

Stock completed the no-hitter with six strikeouts and three walks on 110 pitches to defeat Southern Maryland, 4-0, on the road on Tuesday. He lowered his ERA to 4.08 and improved to 5-1 as he accomplished the second no-hitter in Ducks history. Rod Henderson threw the franchise’s first in 2001 against Atlantic City.

The Ducks gave Stock a three-run lead in the first inning and tacked on the fourth run in the fifth.

“I wound up pitching a little bit more carefully so as to not give up a hit, which led to a walk in [the eighth and ninth] innings,” Stock said. “Just really trying to make sure I didn’t give up a hit. It was actually the four-run cushion [that] allowed me the opportunity to do that.”

Stock’s most recent outing also had been on the road against Southern Maryland on July 9, so he and catcher Joe DeCarlo knew how to succeed this time around. Stock focused on commanding his fastball inside against lefties, which helped him “tremendously.”

Furthermore, Stock throws harder as the game progresses. He’ll jump from the mid-90s to 96 or 97 miles per hour in the sixth and seventh innings.

Pitching coach Luis Rodriguez said the rain and start time changing messed up Stock’s rhythm on July 9. This time around, the first-year Duck and former MLB pitcher wasn’t off his game.

“This time he was more prepared,” Rodriguez said. “I’d say that he attacked every guy here in the zone and you can do whatever you want [to put them away] .  .  . You want to make sure the other guys are chasing your pitch.”

Rodriguez regularly meets with his pitchers to discuss what everyone is doing well and what they can improve on. It’s an opportunity to hit the reset button.

“I tell my pitchers it’s a new day,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a new week. We got to reset. We got to work at this .  .  . I do it every day [for] 10, 15 minutes. [I’ll say] ‘good job’ [to] whoever pitched the night before. ‘Great job last night, you attacked the zone.’  ”

Though it’s the first no-hitter that Stock has thrown, it’s not the first he’s been a part of. He caught Tyler Lyons’ no-hitter for the Palm Beach Cardinals, the Class A affiliate of St. Louis, in 2011.

The no-hitter was part of a doubleheader, so it was only seven innings.

“I’m not sure how many people have both caught one and thrown one in professional baseball,” Stock said. “I’m proud of that.”

Playoff tickets. The Ducks are heading to the playoffs after clinching a berth with their North Division first-half title. Tickets are on sale on liducks.com for the North Division Championship Series and the Atlantic League Championship Series.

Game 1 of the North Division Championship Series is set for Sept. 19 on the road. The Ducks will host Game 3 on Sept. 22 and Games 4 and 5 on Sept. 23-24, if necessary.

If the Ducks advance to the Atlantic League Championship Series, they will host Games 1 and 2 on Sept. 26-27.