MILWAUKEE -- Never underestimate the power of a good night's sleep.

While the rest of his teammates were making a late-night, cross-country flight from Los Angeles, Miami Marlins left-hander Adam Conley was already tucked in and asleep at a hotel in Milwaukee, where he was scheduled to start the first of a three-game series against the Brewers at Miller Park.

With the team scheduled to land around 6 a.m. CDT, the hope was for Conley to be rested and ready to go, hopefully setting a tone as the Marlins tried to extend their winning streak while also getting past the suspension of superstar second baseman Dee Gordon.

The move paid off, too, as Conley no-hit the Brewers through 7 2/3 innings, then watched from the dugout as the bullpen bent but didn't break before escaping with a 6-3 victory.

Conley had pitched well through his first four starts this season but had yet to record a victory. He got off to a quick start against Milwaukee, retiring the first nine batters in order before an error on shortstop Miguel Rojas put leadoff batter Domingo Santana on in the fourth.

Back-to-back walks to Jonathan Villar and Rya Braun loaded the bases, but Conley recovered by striking out Jonathan Lucroy and escaped the inning when Chris Carter bounced into a double play.

He retired seven of his next 10 batters -- allowing three walks along the way -- but he had hit 116 pitches when Hernan Perez flew to center with two outs in the eighth and Mattingly moved quickly to his bullpen.

"It was easy," Mattingly said. "I knew he couldn't finish. We weren't going to let him finish. ... If he had an easy inning there, an eight- or nine-pitch inning, we probably would think about it. But when he gets to that point, you know he's not going to be able to finish the game. This kid has a chance to be really special so there's no way, at this point in the season, that we're going to let him go to 130. We know we have a long season and we feel like we have a chance to go somewhere. He's going to have to be a part of that so we have to protect him."

Conley said he understood the decision, even if he didn't like it.

"I never like coming out of the game, no matter what the circumstances are," Conley said. "But considering where I was at in the game and everything I knew what was going. I knew coming into the eighth I was already at 100. I was really, really that happy he let me go out for the eighth."

Right-hander Jose Urena put another runner on when he misplayed Santana's come-backer but kept the no-hit bid intact by getting Villar on a grounder back to the mound to end the inning. Braun opened the ninth with a strikeout to bring up Lucroy, who put an end to it when he blooped a single past second baseman Derek Dietrich for Milwaukee's first hit of the night.

"I didn't actually (think it would drop)," Lucroy said. "I was like, 'Yeah, this guy is definitely catching this ball' while I was running to first. I guess it just snuck past.""

Deitrich got the start at second because of the suspension of Gordon, who will miss the next 80 games after violating baseball's Joint Drug Agreement.

That leads to a difficult question: Would Gordon's presence have made a difference?

"I don't know," Mattingly said, somewhat begrudgingly. "Probably. Dee's pretty exciting. He probably catches that ball."

The Marlins would have bigger problems in the inning as Milwaukee would score a pair on Urena. Mattingly had wanted to avoid using his closer, but called on A.J. Ramos to stem the tide.

He, too, struggled at first, walking pinch-hitter Kirk Neiuwenhuis then Santana to load the bases before striking out Villar to lock it up.

"If I could have stayed away from him, it would have almost been like a perfect game, going with only two guys and letting everyone else out there get rest," Mattingly said. "We just weren't able to do it."

Conley's performance and the late-inning struggles almost pushed first baseman Justin Bour's night into the background. Bour staked Conley to an early lead with a three-run homer in the first inning, added another run with an RBI double in the third and capped off his day with a solo home run in the sixth.

He was responsible for all four of the earned runs allowed by Brewers right-hander Zach Davies, who allowed six hits and three walks while striking out five in five innings of work.

The damage could have been even greater for Davies, who put runners at first and second with nobody out in the fifth but escaped when Marcell Ozuna chopped a ball right at third baseman Aaron Hill, setting up a perfect triple play.

"It was kind of a tailor-made one," Counsell said. "It was a good spot for it."

NOTES: The Marlins placed INF Dee Gordon on the restricted list after his 80-game suspension for violating the MLB Joint Drug Agreement. Derek Dietrich started at second in place of Gordon and OF Cole Gillespie took the open spot on the roster after his contract was selected from Triple-A New Orleans. ... Milwaukee optioned RHP Taylor Jungmann to Triple-A Colorado Springs. ... The Brewers recalled RHP David Goforth from Colorado Springs to replace Jungmann on the roster.