The Red Sox’ Curt Schilling follows through on a pitch during the fifth inning of yesterday’s 1-0 victory over the Athletics. Schilling tossed a one-hitter.

AP / Marcio Jose Sanchez Marcio Jose Sanchez

OAKLAND — He shook him off.

Curt Schilling, one out away from his first career no-hitter, stared in for the sign from catcher Jason Varitek, didn’t like what he saw and gave a little shake of his head, prompting Varitek to change the pitch selection.

Varitek wanted Schilling to throw a first-pitch slider to Oakland’s Shannon Stewart with two outs in the ninth and the Red Sox fans in the crowd of 31,211 at McAfee Coliseum on their feet, roaring in anticipation of seeing Boston’s ace complete his gem.

Schilling, though, wanted to throw a fastball.

So he threw a 95-mph heater on the outside corner, and Stewart ripped it through the right side of the infield for a clean single, past second baseman Alex Cora, whose futile dive came up about 10 feet short.

The lost no-hitter, though, didn’t cloud Schilling’s focus. He bore down, retiring Mark Ellis on a foul popup to Cora, pitching Boston past the Athletics, 1-0, in a much-needed victory for the Red Sox, who had lost four in a row and six of seven.

“I was so focused that we needed the win. It was only a 1-0 game. Once that ball got through, that (the no-hit bid) was over. I didn’t want something (the win) to slip away that shouldn’t,” said Schilling, whose offensive support was David Ortiz’s homer in the first off Oakland’s Joe Blanton.

His teammates were left feeling a sense of triumph and loss.

“I think (Eric) Hinske said it best,” said third baseman Mike Lowell. “He said, ‘I’ve never seen our pitcher throw a one-hit shutout for a 1-0 win and we’re all disappointed.’ But we really needed Curt’s ‘A’ game today and he gave it to us.”

Schilling, who had pitched two one-hitters prior to yesterday, thought he was going to do it this time.

His command wasn’t particularly great in the early going, and his velocity on his fastball was in the 88-90-mph range for the most part. He was getting outs, but he wasn’t exactly blowing everyone away.

But when center fielder Coco Crisp ran down Mark Kotsay’s first-pitch drive to straightaway center in the sixth, hauling the ball in over his left shoulder as he angled away from the infield, about 398 feet from home plate and about two feet in front of fence, Schilling could feel no-hit immortality.

As the game went along, his command got sharper with all of his pitches. And by the ninth inning, his adrenaline was helping him add velocity to his fastball.

Schilling threw four fastballs to Kotsay, leading off the ninth — one at 93, two at 94 and one at 95. Kotsay grounded out to shortstop Julio Lugo, whose error on a routine grounder by the slow-footed Dan Johnson in the fifth had kept Schilling from taking a perfect-game bid into the ninth.

Jason Kendall was next. He saw fastballs of 93, 91 and 95 mph, grounding out to Lugo on the last one.

Then came Stewart.

“I shook off the slider,” admitted Schilling. “I had a plan. I shook off Tek. He thought he’d be first-pitch swinging. I thought he’d be first-pitch taking. I shook him off maybe 5-10 times all game — one time too many.”

It was a case of déjÀ vu for Varitek. On Aug. 29, 2000, Pedro Martinez was working on a no-hitter into the ninth. He shook off Varitek’s suggestion to throw a first-pitch curve to John Flaherty. He threw a fastball, and Flaherty ripped it for a single, ending that no-hit bid.

“Yeah, that happened (with Martinez),” said Varitek, the team captain, with a wry smile. “I thought (Stewart) would be swinging at the first pitch and we had thrown all fastballs (in the inning). He did a good job of hitting. Curt made a quality pitch. If you make a quality pitch like that you can’t be second-guessed.”

As the ball left the bat, the Sox were hopeful it would find its way to Cora. He gave it a good effort, but didn’t come close.

“I dove, but I had no chance,” said Cora. “That was a nice piece of hitting. You have to tip your hat.”

“It was a fastball away,” Stewart said. “He was throwing me away the whole game. I went up there looking at the third base coach, seeing if he wanted me to take. He didn’t look at me. I said, ‘You know what? I’m swinging if it’s right there. He’s either getting me, or I might get a hit.’

“He was commanding his stuff good, inside and outside. He pitched a great game. Not electrifying stuff but good enough to get the job done. Give him credit. He’s going down as one of the greatest pitchers ever. I might keep that bat.”

After the no-hitter was gone, and after the victory was secured, Lowell had a question for Schilling.

“How do you shake off your captain?” Lowell said with a smile. “Then we got all over (infield coach) Luis Alicea for positioning Cora wrong.”

Schilling, meanwhile, seemed to take it all in stride, satisfied, at least, that he had fulfilled his role as the team’s ace, putting an end to the Sox’ skid. Still, it was one that got away, and these opportunities don’t come along that often. His other one-hitters came with the Phillies against the Mets on Sept. 7, 1992, and with the Diamondbacks against the Brewers on April 7, 2002, in Milwaukee.

“I felt I got better as the game went along. My velocity picked up and my pitches got sharper,” said Schilling.

Schilling said he was aware that he had a no-hitter going after the first inning, and reminded his teammates to look for the bunt.

“When it got into the seventh, eighth and ninth, it was only a 1-0 game. They (the Athletics) know how to play small ball. They know how to play the game. I was certainly ready (for a bunt),” he said.

The bunt never came, and Stewart’s hit ruined the no-hitter, but the Red Sox had the important win.

skrasner@projo.com