Chacin To Start Key Game For Tulsa
Jhoulys Chacin will make his next start Friday for Double-A Tulsa in a game that will have bizarre winner-take-all consequences. The Drillers will host Springfield, and to the victor goes the first-half title in the North Division of the Texas League.
Tulsa and Springfield finished with identical 38-32 records as first-half play ended Tuesday and both teams won. Friday’s game will be count in the second-half standings but under a new Texas League rule will serve as a playoff to determine the first-half champion.
Chacin, who is 6-5 with a 2.92 ERA, will start against Trey Hearne, who is 7-1 with a 2.96 ERA. In his past six starts, Chacin is 3-1 with a 2.01 ERA (40 1/3 innings, 9 earned runs) and has allowed 30 hits with 11 walks and 35 strikeouts.
Samuel Deduno is scheduled to start Saturday for the Drillers, taking the mound for the first time since he strained his left oblique June 6. Rather than throw about 75 pitches in his return, his workload is likely to be about 45 pitches, a concession to the heat in Tulsa.
Deduno will replace Brandon Durden in the Drillers’ rotation. Durden has gone 1-2 with a 4.13 ERA in five starts since moving up from high Class A Modesto.
Reliever Edgmer Escalona, 22, was promoted to Tulsa _ he threw one scoreless inning in his Drillers debut Monday _ after going 2-0 with a 2.48 ERA in 28 games for Modesto where he held opponents to a .207 average with seven walks and 34 strikeouts in 32 2/3 innings. Escalona has a 92-96 mph fastball but needs to work more consistently in the bottom of the strike zone.
Tulsa relievers Jarrett Grube and Michael Nix were released. Grube, 27, went 0-1 with an 8.44 ERA in five games for the Drillers after going 1-2 with a 6.00 ERA in 13 games for Triple-A Colorado Springs. Nix, 26, went 0-0 with a 5.87 ERA in six games with the Drillers.
Right-hander Kyle Hancock made his professional debut Tuesday, three years later than the Rockies expected. His pitching line for Rookie Casper looks frightful but wasn’t as bad as it appears.
Hancock allowed 10 hits and eight runs in 4 1/3 innings at Idaho Falls with no walks and three strikeouts. He took the loss as the Ghosts fell 10-1 in their season opener.
Hancock threw well for three innings, allowing one run in that span but then tired and got the ball up. He also went away from his fastball in the fourth and fifth, which was a mistake.
Hancock finished with 73 pitches, 52 strikes. He threw 35 of 48 fastballs for strikes, averaging 90 mph with that pitch and ranging from 86-93 mph. His fastball, curve and changeup were average.
The Rockies drafted Hancock in the third round in 2005 out of Rowlett (Texas) High School. He reported to Casper, joining the team on a road trip but decided to go home before ever throwing a professional pitch. The Rockies gave Hancock a $475,000 signing bonus, which he forfeited.
Over the winter, Hancock, who turns 22 on Aug. 20, petitioned the commissioner’s office about playing again. That had to be with the Rockies, who still held his rights. Hancock went to spring training and the extended spring training program and gave the Rockies hope that he can belatedly get his career going, which he’ll try to do at Casper.
