Huntsville Downs Wahoos

June 22, 2014

Pensacola Blue Wahoos pitcher Michael Lorenzen took the mound Saturday after one of his best nights ever.

His roomie, relief pitcher Carlos Contreras, got called up to play for the Cincinnati Reds.

While Contreras made his debut pitching in the ninth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays, Lorenzen recorded a career high seven strikeouts in five innings. However, it was not enough for Pensacola, which dropped the game, 5-4, to the Huntsville Stars in front of a sellout crowd of 5,038 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.

Lorenzen said he’s taken a Contreras frame of mind when he gets two strikes on a batter.

“I want to put guys away now,” said Lorenzen, who has 54 strikeouts on the season in a rotation of flame throwers. “Instead of trying to make them make contact, I’m thinking, ‘I’m going to put you away with my best pitch.’”

The righty, who entered the game with 10 straight scoreless innings, allowed three in the first inning to Huntsville on four singles and a double. Lorenzen didn’t give up another run or hit through the next four innings.

Fresh in his mind and recorded on his cell phone was Contreras getting the call from Wahoos manager Delino DeShields that he was getting called up to the big leagues. DeShields talked Spanish to try to fake him out before telling him he was going to the bigs.

Contreras asked him twice in disbelief, “Who me?” And then said excitedly, “I’m going to call my mom!”

“It was one of the greatest moments in my life,” Lorenzen said after Saturday’s game. “His reaction was one of the best things ever. He didn’t sleep a minute. I was worried because they (Cincinatti) had a 3 p.m. game.”

When Lorenzen left the game after the fifth inning, the Wahoos had a 4-3 lead. Lorenzen, who is 4-4, has not earned a decision in six starts this year.

Huntsville, the first half champion of the Southern League North Division, has now won two of the first three games in the five-game series. The Stars regained the lead, 5-4, with two runs in the seventh inning when Kentrell Davis lead off with the team’s first hit since the first inning.

Davis scored on a wild pitch and throwing error by Wahoos catcher Ross Perez trying to catch him going to third. With the infield in, Huntsville’s Jason Rogers then hit the ball sharply past the shortstop that scored Shea Vucinich.

by Tommy Thrall

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News, Sports, TOP sports