Pruitt shows he feels at home in Houston
Ex-College Park, UH pitcher shines in his third start
Austin Pruitt knows Minute Maid Park well.
The University of Houston product pitched at the major league stadium twice in college and most recently in 2013, throwing six innings for the Cougars in a College Classic win over Baylor. Years before that, The Woodlands native frequented the Juice Box to watch Astros games as a kid.
Pruitt, who attended College Park High School, returned to the ballpark this week with the Tampa Bay Rays, set to take the same mound on a much larger stage.
In just his third career start as a pro, the rookie righthander shut down the best offense in baseball Wednesday night to help the Rays take down his hometown, American League-leading club 3-0.
“It was everything I could have dreamed,” Pruitt said after the game. “It was awesome to be in front of all the people that I kind of grew up in front of. … It couldn’t get much better than this.” ‘Awesome’ performance
Pruitt received a standing ovation from Rays fans, family and friends behind the visitors’ dugout when he exited the game in the bottom of the seventh. He finished the night having allowed no earned runs on five hits with three strikeouts and one walk in a career-high 61⁄3 innings pitched.
“Austin Pruitt was awesome,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I knew he was excited to pitch here, but to go out and perform like that had to have been pretty special for him.”
It has been an up-anddown debut season for Pruitt, who is 6-2 with a 5.65 ERA. Drafted by the Rays in the ninth round of the 2013 MLB draft, he spent three years in the minors before earning a callup before the start of the 2017 season.
Pruitt, 27, became the fourth player in Tampa Bay franchise history to make his major league debut on Opening Day this April, facing three batters as a reliever — the role he has been used in most the year.
He made his first start April 25 at Baltimore due to an uncertain weather forecast, but he was used solely out of the bullpen otherwise, where he struggled early on, posting a 10.00 ERA through his first seven appearances.
Sent back down to Class AAA Durham twice, he returned for his third big league stint last week to start against the New York Yankees on July 28. Pruitt was tagged with a loss in five innings of work, allowing five runs on four hits with a career-high seven strikeouts.
Cash has remained confident in his first-year pitcher as of late, and he expected a solid outing from the starter Wednesday.
“(Tonight, Pruitt took) the same approach he took against the Yankees,” Cash said. “He was going to atack the strike zone. He was committed to that. He doesn’t really waver from that really ever since he’s been back up here.”
Tampa Bay Rays ace Chris Archer, who led his team to a 6-4 win over the Astros on Tuesday night, has also been impressed with Pruitt’s demeanor this season.
“Through his struggles, he’s remained the same person,” Archer said before the game. “He never gets too high or too low and that’s impressive to do when you’re a rookie. … As long as he can go out there and give us a quality performance and keep us in the game, that’s all we’re really asking for.”
Early on Wednesday night, Pruitt did just that.
Opposite lefthander Dallas Keuchel, who gave up a two-run homer in the first inning and one run in the third, the rookie held the Astros scoreless through six frames. Escaping trouble
With runners on the corners and no outs in the bottom of the third, Pruitt escaped without conceding a run by striking out Derek Fisher and getting AL hits leader Jose Altuve to hit into a double play. In the sixth, with one out and runners on first and second, he got Yuli Gurriel to do the same.
“(Rays catcher Wilson) Ramos called a great game,” Pruitt said.”And the defense was fantastic. We had a few double plays there that got me out of jam.”
“I am extremely proud of Austin and all he has accomplished to this point at the MLB level,” said UH head coach Todd Whitting, who was in attendance Wednesday. “He is a tremendous competitor and a great representative of UH and Cougar baseball.”