Blake Eager's right arm went nearly two years without throwing in a professional baseball game. The former Flowing Wells High School star wasn't expecting total comfort in his first action since leaving the New York Mets minor-league organization after a torn labrum stunted his rise.
On Friday night, Eager, 27, took the mound for the Tucson Toros and looked like a pitcher fresh off a lengthy delay, yielding five runs on six hits, including two homers, in three innings in a 5-4 loss to the Chico Outlaws.
"I wasn't expecting that much either way," said Eager, a 6-foot-3-inch, 210-pound right-hander and a native Tucsonan whose last start came in July 2007. "The main thing was getting in the work, being businesslike about this. Other than that, you credit the batters with some of the pitches they hit."
But the night wasn't devoid of positives either as Eager had strikeouts for four of the nine outs he recorded, and he didn't appear worried about his brief first-ever outing in front of a hometown crowd.
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"I've done a lot of work with strengthening the shoulder naturally, a lot of stretching," said Eager. "Mentally I need to be confident with it. I'm trying to get to that point. I try to just have tunnel vision with the rest."
The owner of a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.54-to-1 in more than 300 minor-league innings, Eager was uncharacteristically wild to start, walking two of the first four batters as Chico took a 1-0 lead on a Rich Janeway RBI double in the first.
In the second, Eager had an 0-2 count on Darrick Hale only to see the Outlaws catcher pull the next offering over the left field fence for a solo homer.
Blake Gailen lofted a popup into shallow right field, which the Toros' Curt Miaso lost in the lights, the ball dropping behind his head as Gailen reached third. After allowing an RBI single that gave Chico a 3-0 lead just before hitting a batter, Eager ended the frame by striking out two straight on called third strikes.
In the third, Gailen struck again, this time for a two-run home run and a 5-0 lead.
"(Eager) will get another chance, and you know that no one around here feels worse about tonight than he does. But he'll be going again for us soon," said Toros manager Tim Johnson. "He's been a good pitcher before, and he still is."
Meanwhile, Chico starter Michael Martin was in a rhythm, throwing a perfect game until Toros left fielder Dustin Yount — the son of Hall of Famer Robin Yount — walked in the fourth.
Tucson sliced away at the lead in the fifth, scoring on an RBI ground out from Luis Apodaca. And in the sixth, the Toros scored two more. Second baseman Skip Adams led off with a triple before scoring on a Lino Garcia double. Garcia later scored on a sacrifice fly by Jim Rushford.
The Toros cut it to one in the ninth with an RBI single from Apodaca, but Franklin Gonzalez grounded into a double play with the tying run at second.
Up next
• What: Chico Outlaws at Toros
• When: 7 p.m.
• Radio: 1450-AM
