Hillcats’ Watson stymies Myrtle Beach

By Andy Bitter

Published: April 30, 2008

Tommy Hanson had the hype, and rightfully so. The Myrtle Beach right-hander had made mincemeat of the Carolina League in his first five starts, giving up one earned run in 29 innings and striking out 38.
It didn’t stop Hillcats starter Tony Watson from stealing the spotlight Wednesday.
Watson turned in his third straight quality start, giving up one run on four hits in 5 2/3 innings to propel Lynchburg to a 3-2 win at City Stadium.
The left-hander got back to basics after struggling out of the gate, with a 5.54 ERA after three starts. Not one to overpower opponents, Watson thought he was trying to strike everyone out in his first few outings, something he corrected his last three times out, pitching more to contact.
“That’s my game,” he said. “I got away from myself my first couple outings. They try to tell me not to out-do myself.”
He didn’t Wednesday. Watson only struck out two, but he mowed down Myrtle Beach (15-11) nonetheless. Watson (2-3) never faced more than four batters in an inning and retired nine straight at one point. The only bump in the road was a second-inning home run by Willie Cabrera.
Though his changeup is highly regarded (Baseball America ranks it as the best in the Pirates’ system), he only threw it seven times in his 79 pitches. The rest were fastballs, the majority of which were well-placed.
“That’s fastball efficiency and command,” Hillcats manager Jeff Branson said.
It was something Hanson (3-1), one of the hottest pitchers in the minors, lacked on this night. The talk of the Carolina League threw 68 pitches through three innings, 31 of which were balls.
The Hillcats (11-15) took advantage by going deep into counts and making Hanson labor on the mound. They pushed across a run in the first after Brian Friday hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a bunt and scored with two outs on the first of three Hanson wild pitches.
“We definitely made him work the strike zone, probably more than he wanted to,” Hillcats third baseman Jim Negrych said. “As long as we keep pushing across runs early, it’s going to mess up starting pitchers.”
Eddie Prasch’s bloop single with two outs in the third scored Negrych to make it 2-1 Lynchburg.
Negrych, who was 2-for-3, scored again in the fifth after hitting a one-out single, taking second and third on wild pitches and scoring on Kent Sakamoto’s sac fly to make it 3-1.
“He’s a good pitcher, there’s no doubt about it,” Negrych said. “But I thought we handled him pretty well tonight.”
It was Hanson’s last inning. His final line: 5 innings, 5 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, 2 walks and 4 strikeouts.
“Just playing baseball, you know that he’s going to have a hiccup here or there sometime down the road,” Watson said.
Ernesto Mejia’s solo home run off Eric Krebs in the ninth pulled Myrtle Beach within one, but Cabrera flew out and Krebs struck out Jon Mark Owings to complete his first save.
The victory salvaged the final game of the series and was a boost to a Lynchburg offense that hadn’t fared well against any of the league’s top-flight pitchers this season.
“The numbers don’t lie. To come out here 3-0 with a 0.31 ERA, you’ve done something good,” Branson said. “Tonight might have just been his off night. But again, you’ve got to give our guys credit.”
NOTES: With Kyle Pearson and his four saves at Double-A Altoona, Lynchburg doesn’t have a closer, per se. Branson said Krebs pitched the back end of Wednesday’s game because it was his turn in the bullpen. … The Hillcats move their regular starting time back to 7:05 p.m. tonight. The team will still use the 6:05 p.m. start time whenever it has a fireworks display and for nearly all of its remaining Sunday games.