PHILADELPHIA — Josh Beckett transformed himself from power pitcher to deceptive hurler after a winless, injury-plagued season ended with surgery.

He still dominates, but in a different way.

Beckett pitched the first no-hitter of his stellar career and the first in the majors this season, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Philadelphia Phillies 6-0 Sunday.

“You don't think at this point of your career that you're going to do that,” Beckett said.

Certainly not after a miserable 2013.

Beckett was nearly derailed by a nerve condition that left him unable to feel his fingertips. He even had to learn to hold the steering wheel with his left hand because he couldn't feel his right hand.

Now he's healthy and pitching like a guy with three All-Star games, two World Series rings and a World Series MVP award on his resume.

On this day, he was downright nasty.

“For him to be able to do that is nice,” manager Don Mattingly said. “Just for everything that he's been through with us, the surgery last year, he just seemed to change himself as a pitcher and is using the breaking ball more.”

Beckett stuck out six, walked three and didn't come close to allowing a hit against a lineup that included two former NL MVPs and four former All-Stars. The 34-year-old right-hander threw 128 pitches. He fanned five-time All-Star Chase Utley on a called strike three to end the game.

Figuring Utley wasn't expecting a fastball with a no-hitter on the line, Beckett fired a 94 mph heater right down the middle.

“I was trying to think along with him,” Beckett said.

Beckett mixed a sharp fastball with a slow curve that kept hitters off-balance while retiring 23 straight batters in one stretch. He pitched the Dodgers' first no-hitter since Hideo Nomo beat Colorado at Coors Field in 1996, and the 21st in franchise history. Sandy Koufax threw four.

“I knew he had something special going early,” catcher Drew Butera said. “I was a nervous wreck from the fourth inning on when he said he had never taken one this far. He's a guy who is going to keep it loose and he didn't want anybody to be thinking about it.”

Beckett pitched the first no-hitter in the majors since Miami's Henderson Alvarez did it against Detroit on the final day of the 2013 season.

Beckett also became the first visiting pitcher to throw a no-hitter in Philadelphia since Montreal's Bill Stoneman stopped the Phillies on April 17, 1969, at Connie Mack Stadium.

All of the defensive plays behind Beckett were routine. Domonic Brown had the hardest out, a liner that left fielder Carl Crawford ran down near the warning track in the fifth.

Beckett sat at the end of the bench, next to a security guard, as the Dodgers batted in the ninth inning, before taking the mound in his bid for history.

“It was awesome. You think about it pretty much from the fourth on. I'm not one of those guys that carried a lot of no-hitters deep into games,” he said.

Beckett's longest previous bid was 6 2-3 innings before allowing a single to Detroit's Curtis Granderson on June 3, 2009.

Beckett retired pinch-hitter Tony Gwynn Jr. on a popup to shortstop to start the ninth. Speedy Ben Revere followed with a grounder that first baseman Adrian Gonzalez fielded, and he flipped to Beckett covering the bag for the second out.

“It was the most excited I've ever been playing defense,” Gonzalez said.

Jimmy Rollins was up next, and Beckett walked him on a full-count pitch. That brought up Utley, and when the count when to 3-2, Butera went to the mound to talk to Beckett.