Chacin Shines In Win
Published on May 1, 2009 under Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Last Sunday in Springfield, Tulsa pitcher Jhoulys Chacin had one of the toughest outings of his professional career, surrendering nine runs in less than five innings. It was a different story Friday night when he faced the Cardinals again. Chacin did not allow a hit until there was one out in the fifth and led Tulsa to a 5-3 win over the Redbirds at Drillers Stadium.
On a cold and damp night, Chacin, the top pitching prospect in the Colorado Rockies minor league system, was dominating in his fifth start of the season. After allowing a one-out walk in the top of the first, the right-hander retired the next 11 hitters in a row and, thanks to a double play, had faced the minimum 12 batters through four innings.
He ran into some command issues in the fifth, issuing three straight walks before hitting Cards' pitcher Trey Hearne with a pitch to force in a run. Chacin avoided further damage by getting James Rapoport on a ground out.
He got the first out in the sixth before allowing his first hit, a clean single into center by Tony Cruz. Daniel Descalso followed with another hit to end Chacin's night.
Xavier Cedeno relieved and walked Mark Hamilton to load the bases before retiring Owasso native Peter Kozma on a groundout.
Chacin allowed four walks and struck out seven in his 5 2/3 innings. The win improved his season record to 2-3.
The Drillers opened the scoring with an unearned run in the bottom of the third. Daniel Mayora reached on an error, and after a sacrifice by Chacin, scored on a base hit by Anthony Jackson.
The Cards tied it at 1-1 with their run in the fifth, but Tulsa took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth. Chacin started the frame with a leadoff single. A sacrifice bunt by Anthony Jackson was thrown away by Hearne, putting runners at first and third. Chris Nelson singled to plate Chacin and restore the Drillers lead. After Jeff Kindel struck out, Elvis Hernandez relieved Hearne and promptly issued consecutive walks to Darin Holcomb and Ryan Harvey to force in another run.
Springfield cut the two-run lead in half in the seventh. Mike Folli doubled home Antonio DeJesus who had reached when he was hit by a Cedeno pitch.
Cole Garner finished the scoring for Tulsa when he hit his third home run of the season, a two-run blast in the bottom of the eighth.
Andrew Johnston picked up his fourth save despite allowing a ninth-inning run.
Kozma, the number one draft pick of St. Louis in the 2007 June draft, was 0-2 with a walk in his Double A debut. He collected two assists and two putouts from his shortstop position.
The Drillers and Cardinals will continue their series Saturday night. Samuel Deduno (1-1, 5.40 ERA) will pitch for Tulsa against Ryan Kulik (0-0, 18.00 ERA) of Springfield. First pitch will be at 6:05PM.
Texas League Stories from May 1, 2009
- Drillers Take Series-Opener - Springfield Cardinals
- Chacin Shines In Win - Tulsa Drillers
- Frisco Defeats Corpus in Series Opener 9-3 - Frisco RoughRiders
- Travs and Naturals Washed Out Friday Night - Arkansas Travelers
- Friday's game vs. Travelers rained out - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Frisco 'Rides Out of Town with Split - San Antonio Missions
- Series Preview: Diamond Series picks up in Springdale - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Drillers Stage Huge Comeback Friday To Topple Travs - Arkansas Travelers
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