MANCHESTER -- No team in the Eastern League had been playing worse than the Fisher Cats entering the series opener against Portland.

Quick fix: throw a no-hitter.

Brett Cecil, Danny Farquhar and Ron Uviedo welcomed the Sea Dogs by combining on the third no-hitter in franchise history. Cecil won a team-high 15 games for the Blue Jays in 2010, but the bespectacled southpaw wasn't the headliner entering Monday night.

Pregame hype centered around Portland starter Anthony Ranaudo, the top pitching prospect in Boston's farm system. The 6-foot-7 righty was upstaged from the beginning of New Hampshire's 6-0 win before 5,481 fans. The division foes play a doubleheader tonight (6:05) following Tuesday's rainout.

Cecil, facing an all-right-handed-hitting lineup, quickly established the inside corner and sent a message to the Sea Dogs. He backed them off the plate or painted the outside corner with a fastball hitting 89 mph in the first inning.

“Brett set the tone right away by making the hitters feel uncomfortable,” said catcher Brian Jeroloman, who was behind the plate for Kyle Drabek's no-hitter at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium on July 4, 2010. “Once he started locating on the corners, we started going farther inside. Then farther.”

Cecil worked 5 2/3 innings, walking three, and fanning eight. Designated hitter Kolbrin Vitek, Boston's No. 1 pick in the 2010 draft, struck out three times against the lefty. Cecil was cruising but everyone in the bullpen knew he would need help. Sidelined with a groin muscle in late April, Cecil was scheduled to throw no more than 85 pitches. And after striking out Vitek in the sixth, Cecil was done after his 86th pitch.

“It was the first no-hitter I've been a part of in professional baseball, and, for sure, I wanted to finish it myself, but there's the whole thing of a pitch count. My health is more important to me and a lot of people,” Cecil said.

Farquhar, a slider-throwing righty, was the perfect reliever in the sixth. He blazed four pitches at Juan Carlos Linares and notched the first of three strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings.

“We had three pitchers with three different styles. When Danny came in, it was perfect how we started working hitters away,” Jeroloman said.

The Sea Dogs never threatened to break up the no-no until Ryan Dent, a speedy leadoff hitter, flared a grounder up the middle in the eighth inning. Fisher Cats second baseman Brian Bocock, a veteran of nine pro seasons, made a backhanded stab and threw out Dent.

Every no-hitter needs that defensive gem — isn't that right, Clay Buchholz? — and Bocock delivered in Dustin Pedroia-like fashion.

“You know, I didn't even realize there was a no-hitter going until the start of that inning,” said Bocock, activated from the disabled list and making his first start with the Fisher Cats. “Fortunately, I was playing (Dent) a little up the middle.”

His first thought on the potential hit? “Just get the ball. I wasn't thinking about anything other than getting to the ball and planting my right foot to make a strong throw,” said Bocock, who played 32 games for the San Francisco Giants in 2008.

Added Jeroloman: “That's the type of play a veteran makes because it all started with him reading the pitch and being in the proper position.”

Uviedo entered in the ninth and walked Vitek before notching three straight outs. On the final out, Portland's most dangerous hitter, Bryce Brentz, bounced a routine grounder directly at shortstop Ryan Goins, who made the play with ease.

“It felt pretty routine. Now, if there was a perfect game on the line, I would have been really nervous,” Goins said.

Bocock celebrated by leaping into the air and sprinting toward Uviedo, along with every other Fisher Cat.

“Guys were saying I was the most excited one on the field. Well, yeah, I'd never been part of a no-hitter. You don't see too many of these in your career,” said Bocock, who went 2-for-3. “Our pitchers were pretty much dominant. It was cool to be part of that.”

Mike McDade went 3-for-4 (three RBIs) to lead the Fisher Cats offense. Ranaudo, making his second Double-A start, was roughed for five earned runs. Fifth-place New Hampshire (17-25) stayed ahead of last-place Portland (15-28) in a battle to avoid the Eastern Division basement.

“It was a fun game to catch,” Jeroloman said. “To me, the way Cecil attacked hitters and took control of the game, it made everyone's job a little easier. In the seventh and eighth, when the pressure started to build, everyone just did their job.”

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GAME DAY: In the opener of tonight's single-admission doubleheader, Fisher Cats righty Deck McGuire (2-5, 6.75 ERA) takes the mound against Sea Dogs lefty Chris Hernandez (2-3, 2.64 ERA). In the nightcap, New Hampshire righty Yohan Pino (3-1, 3.29 ERA) will be opposed by Sea Dogs rightyBilly Buckner (2-3, 3.53 ERA).

Staff writer Kevin Gray covers pro baseball for the New Hampshire Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News. His email address is kgray@unionleader.com.