It’s not every single day {that a} top-five organizational prospect relieves a two-time Major League All-Star within the Minors. But Gavin Stone jumped at that likelihood on Sunday, although, when he relieved Walker Buehler after the righty’s two excellent frames in his return from proper elbow UCL reconstruction.
“I’ve gotten to know Walker pretty good over this year,” he mentioned. “He makes me more competitive … and just gives me more energy. Hopefully, he can get back up there (in Los Angeles) sooner than later, but I’ll definitely take my advantage of having him here.”
Buehler, who underwent UCL reconstruction in February, made his first look since pitching for Los Angeles in opposition to San Francisco on June 10, 2022. And it was a dominant one.
The 6-foot-2 right-hander threw 15 of his 24 pitches for strikes. In the primary, he bought prime Rangers prospect Evan Carter to line out and sixth-ranked Justin Foscue to fly out earlier than notching his first Ok of the day on a 95.6 mph four-seam fastball to Elier Hernandez within the first.
The subsequent body, Buehler whiffed Blaine Crim on three straight pitches, then induced a lineout by Davis Wendzel and a groundout by Tenth-ranked Dustin Harris to cap the beginning.
It was additionally Stone’s return to Oklahoma City after choosing up a win on Aug. 27 in opposition to the Red Sox in Fenway Park in his final begin. MLB’s No. 81 general prospect gave up 4 runs on 5 hits (together with three homers) whereas hanging out two. He did not concern any walks, however he plunked two batters.
“I’ve kind of gone to a kind of two-seam/cutter mix, and I think that’s just helped to keep people off of the ball early in counts,” Stone mentioned. “And that just allows me to get to two strikes a little bit easier and to take advantage of counts a little bit more. Those two pitches have definitely helped out a lot.”
Although Foscue laced a double to left area to interrupt up the no-hitter to start out the seventh, the 24-year-old rebounded with six straight outs to finish the inning and his outing.
“You just keep executing and executing and executing, over and over again and good results will happen,” Stone mentioned. “And that’s just what I was thinking. I wasn’t trying to keep the no-hitter going or the perfect game. … You just execute. That’s all you can really think about. Not trying to not give up a hit, or not give up a walk. I feel like that’s just the wrong mentality to have up there.”
Stone (7-4) sports a 2.49 ERA over his previous 47 innings (seven begins, two reduction appearances) for Oklahoma City. And Buehler’s presence pays dividends that reach outdoors the sport.
“We just share ideas, and just shoot the [breeze],” Stone mentioned. “We just talk about anything really, he’s a really good dude. Really easy to talk to, really easy to communicate with. And so we talk about a lot of things, not just baseball.”
Content Source: www.mlb.com