Velasquez uses ego to his advantage
PHILADELPHIA » The last time Vince Velasquez had taken the mound, he seemed far from where he felt he was supposed to be. The next time Vince Velasquez takes the mound for the Phillies, he’ll be determined to be the guy he was Sunday, a dominating pitcher rather than a egodriven thrower.
Velasquez allowed six hits over seven full innings, glazing it with six strikeouts in keeping the Atlanta Braves off the Citizens Bank Park scoreboard. Velasquez wouldn’t be able to add one in the win column, but he did set the stage for Freddy Galvis’ third hit of the game becoming a walk-off winner in the bottom of the ninth of a 2-1 Phillies victory.
“Really good,” Velasquez summarized about his outing. “Coming back from the injury that I had, I was just trying to repeat the same outcome I had against the Marlins, just try to be repetitive and try to be consistent as much as possible.
“Unfortunately that game against the Astros started off wrong and the delay kicked in. I tried to bounce back from something like that; just trying to get outs. … That’s the job of a pitcher, getting outs.”
This isn’t breaking news. But it’s taken a few reaffirmations of belief for Velasquez to figure he can again occasionally be the kind of pitcher he was when he struck out 16 Padres and threw a complete game in only his second career start, a 3-0 win April 14, 2016.
Since then, Velasquez has only won eight more games and encountered injury problems. He missed all of June and half of July this season with an elbow problem, and has had trouble finding his form since returning. He only allowed one earned run in a no-decision in Miami July 18 but gave up four earned runs in only three innings of work in what became a 13-4 loss to Houston last Monday.
For an encore, however, Velasquez recovered from a somewhat shaky first inning to tantalize the Braves in what clearly was his best outing since that dominating performance over the Padres two springs ago.
“My slider was working well,” Velasquez said. “I forced ground balls and really protected my fastball. Today’s outcome was awesome. I loved it. Seven innings. You can’t go wrong with that.
“I was just kind of locked in, tried to stay humble as much as possible, just planned to attack the hitters as every pitcher should. Not try to be too fine with pitches, but sometimes we get carried away with ourselves.”
Not that he’s going to let his ego get the best of him after one solid outing...
“My ego’s high; I’m always optimistic,” Velasquez said. “Always positive, even though sometimes I may bring myself down. But at the end of the day it’s all about being optimistic and just trying to stay humble.
“As of right now I’m 2-6. I’ve given up a lot of home runs, walks. It’s not the best year on my end. The only thing I can control is the stuff that’s happening right now. So I’m just more humble, taking it as it is. I’m happy right now, even though my face doesn’t really look like it.”
*** NOTES » Newest Phillie Hyun Soo Kim reported and is on the active roster. He did not see action Sunday . ... Reliever Luis Garcia was touched for a run in the eighth inning. That cost Velasquez the win, but also broke Garcia’s 21⅔-inning scoreless streak. That was second to Larry Andersen’s club record of 32⅔ scoreless inning streak of 1984. ... Reliever Pedro Beato was a Phillie for one night but promptly strained his hamstring. He’s on the 10-day DL, with Mark Leiter Jr. coming up from the IronPigs to take his place.