Kaprielian, Bruins blank Sun Devils
No. 5 UCLA baseball had the better starting pitcher Friday night, and that alone was enough for the Bruins to control the opener of an important Pac-12 series against No. 13 Arizona State.
James Kaprielian mostly looked the part of a projected first-round major-league draft pick, shutting out ASU for seven innings in a 9-0 victory before 3,504 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. He gave up just five hits, walked one and, for the Pac-12 strikeout leader, fanned a modest three.
Grant Dyer and elite closer David Berg finished up with an inning each on the mound for UCLA, the third team to blank ASU. The Sun Devils also were shut out in series openers against No. 4 TCU and Oregon State.
The Bruins (35-11, 17-5 Pac-12) increased their conference lead to three games over ASU (29-16, 14-8), now on a season high three-game losing streak. The Sun Devils drop to third in the Pac-12, a half game behind No. 25 California.
ASU coach Tracy Smith adjusted his lineup in part because first baseman Joey Bielek was not available due to a teamrules violation. Smith went with Aboites at third base for a second straight game and gave sophomore David Greer his first college start at first base. R.J. Ybarra played at designated hitter.
“I would love to have started my guy who is playing first base every single game,” Smith said. “But we have standards that our guys are expected to live up to and that was the reason he didn’t start.” Bielek is expected back for Game 2 today.
Kaprielian (9-4), a 6-4 junior right-hander, stranded two runners in the first and fourth innings while the Bruins were building a 4-0 lead against ASU starter Seth Martinez (2-1) through five.
Smith was extremely unhappy with his team’s lack of enthusiasm and execution.
“Not a real good combination,” he said. “This is one game, one of the ugliest ones I can remember, particularly at home. They hurt more when you do that at home because people pay good money to come out and see this. You at least want to show them a good product and that you’re into the game and you care. But it’s over. We can sit around and mope about it or we can try to correct it. They’re very beatable and regardless of whether we win them or not, I want to see us play better baseball.”
When Martinez exited in the sixth with two outs and two on, the Sun Devils fell apart, committing three errors as UCLA doubled its lead. Sophomore Martinez suffered his first career loss in eight decisions, giving up 10 hits and four earned runs (six total).
ASU third baseman Jordan Aboites, second baseman Andrew Snow and right fielder Trever Allen made errors in the sixth behind reliever Eli Lingos, who gave up singles to three batters he faced. Ryan Hingst pitched effectively over the final 31⁄ innings in one of few bright spots for ASU, which is searching for additional pitching help down the stretch.
Ryan Kellogg (7-1, 3.76 ERA) will start for ASU at 6:30 tonight, opposed by UCLA’s Grant Watson (7-4, 1.90).