Strong start, better finish
Garcia strikes out 10 in 5 innings; Salazar hit completes comeback
Catcher Cesar Salazar was behind the plate for a brilliant performance by Tri-city starting pitcher Luis Garcia on Saturday night.
When the Valleycats blew the lead late, Salazar stepped into the batter’s box to deliver the team’s first walk-off win of the season.
With the bases loaded, Salazar hit an RBI single to right to tie the game and Aberdeen rightfielder Doran Turchin misplayed the ball, allowing Jeremy Pena to score the winning run in Tricity’s 5-4 victory before 3,109 fans at Bruno Stadium.
“Especially when you come from behind after giving up the lead, I think how some of the games have gone, we’ve usually ended up on the losing side of that,’’ Valleycats manager Jason Bell said. “It just shows the amount of grit and toughness that our team had tonight that I hope will carry forward in the future.”
Tri-city was 0-6 when trailing after eight innings before Saturday’s game.
The Valleycats won the opener of their series with Aberdeen to improve to 12-10.
Garcia was dominant in his
five-inning stretch with 10 strikeouts, a season-high for a Valleycats pitcher. He allowed just one hit and issued one walk.
“Oh my God, it was amazing,’’ Salazar said. “It was my first time catching him in a game and I was really impressed by his stuff and his confidence on the mound. It was just really cool to be a part of.”
The Valleycats jumped out to a 3-0 lead after six innings, but Aberdeen scored a run in the seventh on a solo homer by Cody Roberts off Tri-city’s R.J. Freure, in his pro debut.
Then the Ironbirds (11-11) scored three runs in the top of the eighth off Tri-city reliever Carlos Hiraldo, who allowed two hits, two walks and threw a wild pitch.
But Tri-city rallied in the ninth off Aberdeen reliever Juan Echevarria. Gilberto Celestino singled to left and Pena singled to short, both on the first pitch. Alex Mckenna, the next batter, was hit by a pitch to load the bases with none out.
That set the stage for
Salazar, the Houston Astros’ seventh-round pick out of the University of Arizona. Looking for his first career RBI, Salazar lined a 1-2 changeup to right field for a single.
Celestino scored to tie the game at 4-4 and Turchin muffed the ball on one hop. Bell, also the third-base coach, sent Pena and he slid to beat the throw home for the winning run.
“We knew the pitcher was throwing pretty good,’’ Salazar said. “With the bases loaded and nobody out, tying run at third, I was just trying to get a pitch up in the zone that I could drive to the outfield. I put good enough wood on it and good things happened.”
Bell said he probably wouldn’t have waved home Pena if the right fielder had fielded the ball cleanly.
“With nobody out, I probably wouldn’t have sent him,’’ Bell said. “It depends on the situation, but all three of those outfielders have pretty good arms ... Pena had a pretty good read on that ball, though.”
Though he didn’t get the decision, Garcia gave a pitching performance about on par with teammate Bryan Abreu, who struck out nine against Vermont two days earlier.
“I felt really good because I was commanding all my pitches,’’ Garcia said in Spanish through Salazar, who translated. “Everything felt perfect and that’s why I pitched the way I did.”
Garcia, a 21-year-old from Venezuela, has allowed no earned runs in 16 1/3 innings with Tri-city this season. He pitched one level up in Quad Cities last year.
“I feel better right now,’’ Garcia said. “I feel like I’ve been working with stuff and everything has clicked. In Quad Cities, everything was a little off.”
Pena and Alex Holderbach each had three hits for Tri-city. Celestino and Trey Dawson each added a pair of hits and an RBI.