If you look at only the line score from Friday night’s 7-2 loss by the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes to the Lake Elsinore Storm, it appears that Dodgers top-10 pitching prospect Jose De Leon pitched poorly in his first game back from the disabled list. But if you dig deeper into the game recap, you will see that De Leon struck out six of the 15 batters he faced in his three innings of work at The Diamond in Lake Elsinore.

De Leon, who suffered a minor right groin strain on April 14, looked awkward on the mound in the first inning of what would end up being the Quakes first loss of the season to the Padres Advanced Single-A affiliate. He left the ball up in the zone and when he missed, he missed up – a dangerous proposition and very uncharacteristic for the 22-year-old Isabel, Puerto Rico native. But in the second inning, it was as if the real Jose De Leon finally showed up.

As it turns out, there was a reason for this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde difference in performance between the first and second innings – a big reason.

“I had a wrap around my right leg in the first inning and I was feeling really uncomfortable with it on,” De Leon said after the game. “It felt like it was holding my leg and I couldn’t follow through properly. I took it off after the first inning and the difference was huge.”

Huge indeed. In the second inning De Leon struck out the side on 14 pitches. And although he hit a batter and issued his third walk of the night in his third and final inning of work, he did not allow another run or hit while picking up his sixth strikeout.

De Leon needed only 14 pitches to strike out the side in the second inning – after he took the wrap off of his right leg. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Because De Leon is always right around the strike zone, Storm hitters fouled off 14 of the 71 pitches he threw in his three innings of work. And while this wouldn’t be a big deal under normal circumstances, it was a big deal for De Leon on Friday night.

“I was on a pitch count tonight,” said De Leon. “That’s why they took me out after only three innings.”

But in spite of his rough first inning, the best news of the night from De Leon is that he had no lingering affects whatsoever from his groin injury.

“Physically I was feeling great,” De Leon said. “I just didn’t have rhythm with my off-speed pitches.”

Unfortunately for De Leon, the Quakes had used up their offense the night before when they scored 11 runs on 14 hits. In fact, the Quakes offense didn’t even show up until the top of the ninth inning on Friday night when they finally scored two runs on a lead-off double by the red hot Cody Bellinger followed by an RBI single by Jarek Cunningham. A hit batsman and a walk moved Cunningham to third and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Devan Ahart.

19-year-old Cody Bellinger continues to swing a hot bat for the Quakes. He also made an absolutely incredible over the shoulder running catch in center field in Friday night’s 7-2 loss to the Storm.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Ironically, through their six meetings thus far this season, the Quakes have outscored the Storm 49 to 18. Did Friday night’s lack of run support bother the hard-throwing young right-hander?

“It’s only April and I’m just looking forward to my next outing,” De Leon said.

If all goes as planned, that next outing will be on Wednesday, April 29 when the Quakes square off against the 2014 defending California League Champion JetHawks at The Hangar in Lancaster where one thing is for certain – Jose De Leon probably won’t be wearing a wrap on his right leg.

Too bad for the JetHawks, huh?