The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Aiken handles rough seas
Highly touted southpaw survives rocky first inning in home opener
Every time Brady Aiken takes the mound for the Lake County Captains, attention will be paid.
That’s what comes with the territory of being a first-round draft pick and a hard-throwing, left-handed starting pitcher from whom great things are expected by the Indians and their
fans. Aiken gets all that. Four months shy of his 21st birthday, he seems well-prepared to handle good times and bad.
As it happened, Aiken had some of both April 8 as he got his first start with the Captains against Dayton in the 2017 home opener at Classic Park.
With a crowd of 6,207 anxious to see if the Indians’ top-rated pitching prospect is as good as advertised, Aiken had a rocky go of it in the first inning of what ended as a 7-3 loss to the Dragons.
Dayton’s T.J. Friedl Jr. doubled leading off the top of the first inning. Jose Siri followed with an RBI single to make it 1-0 before many of the fans had downed their first hot dog and beverage.
Siri stole two bases around a walk to Taylor Trammel, who then stole second base himself to put runners at second and third bases with no outs.
“I couldn’t find a rhythm and felt like I was working too slow,” Aiken said.
Aiken got his first out by striking out Tyler Stephenson, then took a step back and loaded the bases by walking Avain Rachal.
Just when the inning could have gone totally south for Aiken, he made the pitch he needed to right the ship and got Brantley Bell to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.
Aiken’s second inning was on the shaky side, too. He surrendered another run, facing six batters and giving up two hits.
He was much better in the top of the third, working around a walk and notching two strikeouts.
John Sansone of the Dragons singled to lead off the top of the fourth, but was thrown out at second base by Captains left fielder Todd Isaacs trying to stretch that single into a double. Aiken gave up another single, but quelled the threat with two strikeouts.
He was done for the evening after throwing 76 pitches and limiting the damage to two runs on six hits. He had five strikeouts and issued three walks.
“That first inning was tough, obviously, but I felt better every inning after that and felt like I could go on from there,” Aiken said, smiling.
Captains manager Larry Day liked what he saw, even during Aiken’s struggles in the first inning.
“I’m sure he’d have rather had smooth sailing at the beginning, “Day said. “But in a way, it’s good that he had to face adversity and get out of it giving up only one run. It was no big deal and a great growth opportunity.”
Justin Garza, who is sharing starts with Aiken on a piggyback arrangements, surrendered four runs, all earned, on five hits in three innings.
The Dragons (1-2) also got a run off the third Lake County pitcher Ryder Ryan. Dayton starter Wennington Romero (10, 3.00 ERA) gave up two runs in six innings to earn the victory.
Aiken (0-1, 4.50 ERA) took the loss as the Captains slipped to 1-2.