DETROIT -- After Justin Verlander tossed his second no-hitter -- only three months past his 28th birthday -- manager Jim Leyland had little doubt he wouldn't do it again.



He came close Friday. Really close.



Verlander came within two outs of throwing his third career no-hitter Friday night, giving up a one-out, broken-bat single to Pittsburgh designated hitter Josh Harrison on a 1-2 pitch in the ninth inning.



And just like that. It was gone.



"God, it sucks," said Verlander with a swarm of reporters crowding his locker. "It was a decent pitch, too."



The pitch that broke the bid was a slider. It was down and away and certainly not a poor pitch to select after Harrison had wildly chased two breaking balls in the at-bat.



"Maybe, if the bat doesn't break, it goes a little farther and Donnie (Kelly) catches," said Alex Avila, who caught last year's no-hitter. "Sometimes, that's the luck of the draw."



Instead, the hit was clean and when it landed in shallow center the 29-year-old Verlander bent backward on the mound. Quietly, he cursed.



"That was probably the toughest swing I've ever seen to get a hit -- I don't know how he hit it," Prince Fielder said. "When things like that happen, I guess it wasn't meant to be."



He quickly recovered, inducing two quick groundouts to close out the Tigers' 6-0 win over the Pirates in front of 41,661 sellout crowd, all chanting "M-V-P, M-V-P" on its feet.



With two no-nos to his credit and a handful of one-hitters, Leyland said this start might've been Verlander's most impressive. And it turned out to be his first career one-hit complete game.



"I'm not sure I've seen him better than tonight," he said. "He's stuff looked electric to me. He just had it really going."



It was vintage Verlander from the start as he struck out six through three innings, using a barrage of knee-bucking curveballs and a four-seamer that steadily increased its velocity as the game progressed.





Last year's AL MVP and Cy Young winner, Verlander allowed just two walks and retired a string of 18 consecutive batters that also featured a 13-hit explosion from a rejuvenated Tigers offense.

"Besides the crowd erupting, it was a pretty boring game," Avila said. "I like it that way. We were ahead early and it stayed that way."

Miguel Cabrera and Fielder hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the first off Charlie Morton to give the Tigers an 2-0 lead. Young struck again in the fourth with a solo homer and another RBI double in the sixth.

The win snapped a two game losing streak for the Tigers, who had lost 17 of their last 26 games prior to Friday night's interleague opener.

"It was an electric night for us," Leyland said. "We just need to have a few more of them. That's what we're accustomed to around here and that's what we need to get to."

Verlander would have become the sixth pitcher in Major League history to have thrown three no-hitters -- and the first since Nolan Ryan, who threw his seventh in 1991.

He fell just short, but Avila seemed confident his batterymate wouldn't have to wait long before another opportunity poked its head around the corner.

"I said it last year, too," he said. "It wouldn't surprise me."

There have been nine pitchers that have thrown two no-hitters against National League teams since 1918. Verlander was on the verge of becoming the first in the American League to do it.

He was throwing 100-plus mph fastballs in the ninth inning, having conserved energy by throwing with less velocity earlier. It was similar to his no-hitter last year, but -- this time -- he had all his pitches working for him.

"He didn't work real hard early, but he smelled it around the seventh," Leyland said. "You could see that when he turned it up a notch."

Verlander (5-1) entered the game tied for fifth in the American League with 56 strikeouts. He finished atop the league following his season-high 12-strikeout performance.

"I wanted to jump around on the field," said Fielder, who fell victim to Verlander's first no-hitter when he was with Milwaukee in 2007. "I was just excited for Justin. Anytime someone can have a game like that at this level, it's just awesome to see."

The Pirates threatened to break up the no-hit bid in the sixth when Harrison crushed a shot to deep center, but Don Kelly made an over-the-shoulder catch to keep the no-hit bid intact.

"I don't think people realize how hard that is to do," Leyland said. "You really have to have a lot of things go right."

It wasn’t an Austin Jackson-like catch, but that’s simply because Verlander only served a handful of hard-hit balls against a Pirates' offense that entered Friday hitting an NL-worst .221.

"Quietly, Don Kelly made a heck of a play," he said. "Usually, there's a couple plays in a no-hitter and that was a damn nice play."

A one-out walk to Andrew McCutchen in the seventh snapped a string of 18 straight retired, but the blip didn't distract Verlander, who struck out four of his next five batters.

Neil Walker battled Verlander to a full count to lead off the sixth, but he took a 98 mph down the pipe for a called third strike. He induced a Pedro Alvarez groundout to first that advanced McCutchen to second before getting Garrett Jones to watch a called third strike.

"Today, everything was working," Avila said. "I think I wanted it as much as he did."

Verlander struck out four in last year’s no-hitter May 7 against Toronto and 12 on June 12, 2007, against the Milwaukee Brewers.

There have already been two no-hitters this season: Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels, and Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox on May 2 and April 21, respectively.

"The way he's pitched in his career, it's definitely a privilege to be able to catch him," Avila said.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;A href="http://www.foxsportsdetroit.com/pages/video?videoid=bce7fae5-cca7-48c4-803b-d94559cb02d1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;src=v5:embed:syndication:&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;from=shareembed-syndication" target="_new" title="Tigers on 6-0 win"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Video: Tigers on 6-0 win&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/A&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

-- Follow James Schmehl on Twitter: @jamesschmehl.