Drillers right-hander Chase De Jong continued his strong pitching on Tuesday evening in a home game against the Frisco RoughRiders. In two of his past three starts he had pitched seven shutout innings and allowed a total of three hits in those two games while striking out 15 and walking three.

In the fifth inning of Tuesday night’s game it appeared that De Jong’s streak was about to come to an end when he gave up a lead off triple to Frisco’s first baseman Ronald Guzman. However, working quickly, the 22-year-old Long Beach, CA native proceeded to strike out the side leaving Guzman as an interested (and disappointed) spectator on third base.

Through six innings De Jong was mixing his pitches and was locating them well against the RoughRiders, thus duplicating his great work from his previous two games. He allowed only two hits, walking none and striking out five.

Drillers play-by-play man Dennis Higgins related that a special assistant to the Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman was in town for the game. That special assistant was none other that Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux. Higgins mentioned that De Jong had spent considerable time with the pitching legend picking his brain whenever possible and that Maddux had left a huge impression on him about learning how to read swings of hitters and to let them help determine what pitch should be thrown next.

Maybe it was just his night or maybe it was a result of the advice provided by Maddux, but De Jong worked very quickly and had the Frisco hitters off balance all evening. Drillers catcher Kyle Farmer provided De Jong with additional confidence to throw low and away with his pitch-blocking skills.

De Jong credits the time he spent with Hall of Famer Greg Maddux during spring training for his success this season. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

The Drillers, winners of 12 of their last 18 games, scratched out two runs in the fourth inning on a walk, two singles, a wild pitch and a hit batsman. Those runs were someone of a gift as Frisco right-hander Connor Sadzeck was also wheeling and dealing but hit a brief interlude of wildness. Through five innings he had given up but three hits, walked one and struck out five.

The Drillers tacked on another run in the sixth inning. With two out Jacob Scavuzzo singled on a line drive to center field. First baseman Cody Bellinger was hit by a pitch for the second time during the game advancing Scavuzzo to second base. For the second game in a row second baseman Willie Calhoun singled to the left side against the shift and drove in a run. The Drillers have a predominantly left-handed hitting line up so it is encouraging to see Calhoun and others trying to shoot the ball to the left side.

De Jong finished off the seventh inning and posted his third seven-inning shutout in his last four outings. His fastball ranged between 89-92 mph while his change of pace came in with good sink.
He threw 88 pitches – 59 for strikes – and lowered his seasonal ERA to 2.70 while his ERA during his last four games is a minuscule 0.72.

Chase De Jong
(Photo credit – Rich Crimi)

With the Drillers leading 3-0 Caleb Dirks relieved De Jong in the top of the eighth inning. It was his fifteenth appearance of the season and it turned out to a different kind of inning. Dirks gave up a leadoff single and followed that up with a confusing throwing error as shortstop Brandon Trinkwon and second baseman Willie Calhoun failed to cover second base on a comebacker to the pitcher. With one out Frisco catcher Kellin Deglan grounded into a less than conventional double play to end the inning.

With that double play, the top of the eighth inning ended in a bit of a rhubarb. On appeal by Drillers manager Ryan Garko, the new Utley Rule came into play when the umpires ruled that Zach Cone had made an illegal slide into second base causing the Drillers to miss the out at first base. In response to the ruling, Frisco’s manager Joe Mikulik put on his best ‘Lou Pinella’ impression during which he threw and kicked his helmet, slide into second base (I’m not making this up), pulled the base out and punted it towards right field and then tried to erase the third base line as he exited the field following his well-earned ejection.

Drillers newly-arrived reliever Scott Griggs came on to pitch in the top of the ninth inning with the Drillers still up 3-0 and recorded his first AA save. Sporting a 94-MPH fastball and an 80-MPH breaking ball, Higgins described Griggs’ delivery as effortless. The right-hander closed out the inning with a line out to second base and three ground balls, one of which was a hit hugging the third base line.

The Drillers have now moved to within 2.5 games of the division leading Springfield Cardinals. Their next game is today against the animated Joe Mikulik and the Frisco RoughRiders with right-hander Tim Shibuya making his second start for the Drillers.