Published: July 18, 2008 10:58 pm            

Overpowering

Cruz’s arm leads Princeton to win over Danville

PRINCETON — Two of the Appalachian League’s top-10 pitchers started on the mound Friday night in Princeton, and the hometown Rays got six innings of outstanding baseball from Joseph Cruz in a 4-2 Princeton win over the Danville Braves.

Cruz allowed only two hits, one of them a surprise bunt single, and struck out nine of the 20 batters he faced. He came into the game ninth among league pitchers in ERA (2.74).

“With the stuff that he had tonight, he could pitch a lot of places,” said Princeton manager Joe Szekely. “He’s been getting better and better and showing signs of improving and improving.”

Cruz said, “Everything clicked tonight. Everything worked — the off-speed, fastball, I was hitting my spots ... and I stayed aggressive.”

The Braves’ starter, Randall Delgado, was fourth in ERA in the league (2.00). He struck out seven batters in the first four innings, but things unraveled in a two-run fourth inning that increased Princeton’s lead to 4-1.

Szekely said about Delgado, “He’s got good stuff, no question. He got behind Otero, who’s been swinging a hot bat, and he made him a 2-0 pitch he couldn’t refuse.”

The Rays, who had lost seven of their last 10 games, snapped a two-game losing streak. The Braves had fallen behind in each of their last five games, but couldn’t generate enough offense against Cruz and reliever Chris Luck, who gave up two singles in handling the last three innings.

Cruz said he doesn’t look at stats on the opposition, but he remembered that in his previous start against Danville, “they got me the first time, they hit me good in the first outing. I told (the coaches) it wasn’t going to happen again. And we hit. We played ‘D.’ You can’t ask for a better game.”

The offense belonged to Princeton from the start. Dio Luis got a first-inning hit with a single past second base. Elias Otero, second-leading batter in the Appy circuit, sent a fastball over the major-league banner with Carl Crawford’s face on it, beyond the right-field wall for a 2-0 lead.

“I was waiting for a fastball, and just went with the pitch, and it went over the fence,” Otero said via an interpreter.

Szekely said the homer “kind of took a little pressure off of us. We’d been struggling with men in scoring position.”

The comfort zone shrank a little in the fourth inning. Cruz had not allowed a single base runner before Danville leadoff batter Joe Campusano reached on a throwing error by third baseman Jeremy Beckham, who is still getting used to a new infield position.

After a bunt single by Shayne Moody, Campusano scored an unearned run during a double-play.

Princeton pushed two runs across in the fifth. Delgado walked D.J. Jones to start the next frame, then gave up a wild pitch. Dustin Biell’s triple brought Jones to the plate. Burt Reynolds generated an RBI on a groundout, producing the Rays’ final run.

Biell entered the game batting .096 but went 2-for-3 with a pair of triples. Otero put in a 2-for-4 evening.

Szekely commented on Biell’s effort. “He had a great night tonight,” the manager said. “We’ve been doing a little something different with him today, and he kind of took to it a little faster than I thought he would.”

A second Princeton error figured in the Braves’ last run in the eighth. L.V. Ware singled and was on his way to second when a throwing error by catcher Mayo Acosta allowed him to take third. A groundout by Chris Fuller got Ware home.

Otero said the pitchers earned the win. “Cruz came in with a job to do, and he did the job,” the shortstop said. “He and Chris Luck had been working real hard with Marty DeMerritt, the pitching coach, and it’s been paying off for them.”

The Danville series concludes tonight with a 7 p.m. outing. The first 500 fans will receive a full-color team picture of the 2008 Rays, courtesy of Kroger. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today, some of the Rays players will be signing autographs at the Princeton Kroger location.

Szekely said, “We won four in a row, then we dropped the last game in Burlington. And then (Thursday) night we felt like we had a chance to win and we let it slip away. Tonight was big. I think we needed this win to help us get back on the trail, and hopefully we can take two out of three in this series.”

Otero agreed. “It gives us much more confidence to be on top of our game (Saturday).”

Cruz said about the previous two games, “We’re going to go through times like that. That’s just baseball. (But) we’re jumping on things again. We’re hitting, we’re playing ‘D,’ the pitching’s going to be there. Everything clicked.”

The Rays remain at home Sunday through Tuesday, taking on the Greeneville Astros.

— Contact Tom Bone

at tbone@bdtonline.com



At Hunnicutt Field

Danville..........................................000 100 010 — 2 4 0

Princeton.......................................200 020 00x -- 4 8 2

Randall Delgado, Steven Kent (5), Matthew Small (8) and Mathew Kennelly. Joseph Cruz, Chris Luck (7) and Mayo Acosta. WP—Cruz (1-1). LP—Delgado (1-4). SV—Luck. HR—Otero (2), 1st, 1 on. Time—2:11. Att—961.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.