By: Joe Krasnowski
EUGENE, OR – There were no violent fist pumps, no primal screams. Six times, Joe Whitman took the mound in PK Park on Friday night, and six times the Emeralds’ second-rounder from a year ago walked back to the dugout with all the emotion of a guy throwing spring training batting practice.
The second time was a little different. Alex Suarez had trouble with a weak potentially inning-ending liner which he lost in the brutal Eugene sun. Besides that one-run blip, everything else for Whitman was as seemingly effortless as six innings of seven strikeout ball can be. The Emeralds too, went about Friday’s game with ease as all hopes of an end-of-the-week spectacular ending were drowned out by a more pedestrian, albeit welcomed, 6-1 victory over Vancouver.
Several Emeralds patted Whitman on the back and squeezed his shoulders, he shared handshakes with the Emeralds’ coaching contingent. Most of his teammates joked with him, trying to earn a laugh after he exited the mound that sixth and final time. They had about as much success as the Canadians did trying to score against the 22-year-old from Akron, OH.
The only thing stopping Whitman Friday night was Suarez’s misplay — everything else was as routine as possible.
After the Emeralds fell down early for the first and only time of the night, the team quickly surged back ahead. Suarez then singled to left, taking the lead with a liner, then, Jonah Cox brought home Garrett Frechette via a sac-fly.
Not even a fourth-inning pick-off turned blunder could faze Whitman, his next pitch, a down-and-in fastball induced a groundout and ended the inning.
“It was great, the offense put up a two-spot for us in the bottom of the inning, and it was cake from there.” Whitman said.
From there, everything else was run-of-the-mill or “cake” for Eugene.
Whitman threw 103 pitches, 73 for strikes. He threw four different pitches but leaned heavily on his fastball, slider and changeup. Although he failed to retire the side in every inning but the first and fifth, the other innings included baserunners but no real threats. The — controlled his outing well, living in the strike zone and generating many favorable counts. Not only did Whitman throw six innings for the second time in his last two starts, but he also gave most of the bullpen the night off.
“It was great, I was able to get ahead of batters early and everything went well from there,” Whitman said.
And as Diego Velasquez’s third homer of the year cleared the wall in the fifth with Whitman at just 65 pitches, it was no secret if the Giants’ organizationally-rare five-inning limit rule would be breached.
Eugene needed length from Whitman tonight, after Jack Choate’s first-inning injury resulted in a bullpen game the night prior. His already impressive ERA now rests at 2.16 another stat the Emeralds can get used to during this late-season surge.
The Eugene Emeralds are the High-A affiliate of Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants. The Eugene Emeralds are dedicated to providing the best in family entertainment and creating a fun, safe environment for everyone to enjoy watching a baseball game. For more information, please visit our website at www.EmeraldsBaseball.com or call the Emeralds front office at 541-342-5367. • Emeraldsbaseball.com • Facebook.com/EugeneEmeraldsfanpage • Twitter.com/EugeneEmeralds
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