CCT: Rookie displays power...
Steven Chan, quoting Jay Heater of The Contra Costa Times
Pitcher Russ Ortiz shows off 90-plus
mph fastballs in debut as starter,
helps Giants beat Diamondbacks
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By Jay Heater
TIMES STAFF WRITER
Contra Costa Times
Tuesday July 21, 1998
SAN FRANCISCO -- If Giants manager Dusty Baker had any concerns about
his new starter, rookie Russ Ortiz, pitching deep into a game, a
couple of fastballs to Arizona's Karim Garcia on Monday night at 3Com
Park must have set his mind to rest.
With two outs and the bases empty in the sixth inning of the Giants'
5-3 victory over the Diamondbacks, Ortiz started Garcia with a 91-mph
fastball and then came back with a 92-mph pitch.
Sustaining power is not a problem for the 24-year-old righty, who was
around the 100-pitch count and still firing bullets. Learning to be a
starter in the majors might be.
That's a huge long-term question for the Giants, who momentarily were
charged up Monday by J.T. Snow's tie-breaking two-run homer in the
eighth off reliever Bobby Chouinard.
Ortiz followed his two fastballs with a hanging curve that Garcia
ripped on a line over the right field fence to tie the score at 3-3.
It cost Ortiz, who battled all night, a chance at the victory.
Although Ortiz didn't get a win in his major-league debut as a
starter, his performance had to be comforting to Giants fans who know
the team desperately needs another starter with Shawn Estes on the
disabled list. Ortiz went seven innings and allowed three runs (two
earned) and just three hits. Durability was a concern since his
longest outing of the season was 6ª innings for Triple-A Fresno
against Salt Lake on June 16.
Ortiz, who struck out seven, probably was fortunate he was facing
expansion Arizona, which didn't parlay his six walks and two errors by
his teammates into further damage.
Baker's decision to start Ortiz was the high point of an experiment
that began last year to turn the college and minor-league reliever
into a starter. Ortiz, the No. 4 pick by the Giants in the 1995 draft,
had three saves for champion Oklahoma in the 1994 College World
Series. He was a successful reliever in the minors when the Giants
decided to check him out as a starter.
And when the Giants called him up from the minors this season, Baker
used him out of the bullpen. Entering Monday's game, he had allowed
one earned run in 12 innings (0.75) in eight appearances.
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GIANTS 5, DIAMONDBACKS 3
TODAY: Diamondbacks (Andy Benes 6-10)
at Giants (Orel Hershiser 8-7), 7:05 p.m.
TV: FSBA; RADIO: 680-AM
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This article has been posted, independent of the Contra Costa Times, a
Knight-Ridder Newspaper, © Copyright 1998. All rights reserved.
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