PCL: Sound pitching puts end to Isotopes’ winning streak

James Barron | The New Mexican

4/22/2008 - 4/23/08

ALBUQUERQUE — Everything Dean Treanor wants in his pitchers could be found in Mark DiFelice.

Too bad DiFelice wears a Nashville Sounds uniform.

The 31-year-old showed veteran poise in his 2008 debut to help beat the Albuquerque Isotopes 13-3 in front a crowd of 4,648 at Isotopes Park in Pacific Coast League baseball on Tuesday afternoon.

The win broke Albuquerque's eight-game winning streak and the Sounds' four-game slide. It also prevented Nashville from being swept for the third time in the first three weeks of the season.

Treanor, the Isotopes' manager, heaped praise on DiFelice for his performance, in which he gave up a lone run on three hits over six innings while striking out 11 batters.

DiFelice toyed with Isotopes hitters using an assortment of sliders, curveballs and cutters plus a fastball that never broke 84 mph.

"To go back to that axiom, theory or whatever you want to call it, it's all about movement and not about velocity," Treanor said. "He was the poster child for that today."

The approach should look familiar. DiFelice had a seven-inning, 11-strikeout effort against the Isotopes on Aug. 11, 2007, although he took the loss in a 3-1 score. If not for catcher Paul Hoover, he would have held Albuquerque (11-7) hitless through the first five frames.

Hoover's third-inning single was the only blemish for DiFelice, who did not walk a batter. Of the 74 pitches he threw, 56 were for strikes.

"Sometimes that hurts me more than helps me, being around the strike zone," DiFelice said. "I've always done that my whole career. Sometimes, though, you have to be effectively wild. Today, I lived around the zone and controlled my cutter inside and outside, just to keep those guys off-balance."

Except for Hoover, who again broke through DiFelice's magic with a lead-off single in the sixth. He scored on Chris Barnwell's double, but it was 7-1, Sounds, by that point.

Nashville (4-15) chased Isotopes starter Gaby Hernandez to the showers by the fourth on the strength of a three-run home run by Vinny Rottino in the first, a two-run shot by ex-Isotope Joe Dillon in the third and two more runs in the fourth.

Hernandez's performance was the antithesis of what Isotopes' rotation had done over the past two series — it was only the second time a starter hadn't reached the sixth inning. Hernandez surrendered seven runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Hernandez's recognized that his problem was he was constantly pitching behind in the count.

"You gotta make a pitch, so you throw it over the plate and they hit a homer," Hernandez said. "You can't pitch behind the count, so I gotta get better."

But Treanor's concern goes beyond his starters, especially with an important four-game series against American Southern Division leaders the Oklahoma RedHawks. Treanor sees his bullpen starting to wear down from the early-season strain placed on it.

Even though Marcos Carvajal fired 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Hernandez, Scott Nestor and Chris Mobley were hit hard by the Sounds, allowing a combined six runs in the final two frames.

Mobley needed 34 pitches to get out of the ninth, and the Sounds pounded him for four runs on four hits and a walk. Mobley also threw a wild pitch that allowed Brendan Katin to score for 10-2.

"You gotta come in and stop rallies, you got to come in and put zeros on the board to keep us in the game," Treanor said.