Pictured on your left is Rick Porcello, and he is wearing a Hawaiian-themed baseball uniform in conjunction with a Toledo Mud Hens promotion. Porcello pitched seven shutout innings tonight, but unfortunately closer Jay Sborz coughed up a three-run homer to Jonathan VanEvery of the Indianapolis Indians in the ninth, and the Hens lost by a score of 3-1. This is kind of like winding up with a case of eczema after having a great time at prom, but I digress.My wife and I attended tonight's game along with my parents and my brother and sister-in-law from the Detroit area. The capacity crowd of 10,300 was silenced by VanEvery's blast, which traveled about 420 feet in left-center.
Porcello looked like a true phenom in 2009, when he went 14-8 for the Tigers and finished third in the voting for American League Rookie of the Year. He started 2010 off in rough fashion, posting a 4–7 record and a whopping 6.14 ERA. Since joining the Mud Hens Porcello has a record of 1-2 and an ERA of 3.21 in four starts, so perhaps the trip to Toledo has helped him work out the mechanical problems that seemed to plague him in Detroit. Porcello's outing is also impressive given the fact that the Indians are one of the better hitting teams in the International League.
Porcello allowed only six hits and gave up three walks in seven innings, while racking up seven strikeouts in his strong outing.
