Coley delivers on mound and at plate
Austin Coley was plenty satisfied with his start Monday night, but what he did on the mound was only a part of the story."I'd be lying if I said the hit wasn't exciting," the Pittsburgh right-hander said of his first professional knock, a sixth-inning single that broke up a no-hit
Austin Coley was plenty satisfied with his start Monday night, but what he did on the mound was only a part of the story.
"I'd be lying if I said the hit wasn't exciting," the Pittsburgh right-hander said of his first professional knock, a sixth-inning single that broke up a no-hit bid by Philadelphia righty Tyler Viza. "Hitting's hard. I'm thankful I'm a pitcher."
So are his Double-A Altoona teammates. Coley (4-2) surrendered two hits over seven innings, fanning six and walking one in the Curve's 2-0 shutout of the Fightin Phils at Reading's hitter-friendly FirstEnergy Stadium.
Gameday box score
"It was first time we've played Reading the whole season, so you go into a new series -- especially in a park that has short porches to left and right -- and you don't know what it's like except from what you see in the scouting reports," the 25-year-old Tennessee native said.
"You don't know how they're going to react to your stuff, so it's really a game of adjustments. Jin-De Jhang, who caught me tonight, did a great job calling, keeping them off balance. I was really working with all three pitches, mixing all three in on different counts, making them think before they get in the box. Jin-De did great job behind plate, recognizing their swings and what they were trying to do as hitters."
Matching zeros with Viza, he was "very aware" his opponent had faced the minimum and was working on a no-no when he stepped to the plate with two outs in the sixth inning. The Belmont University product hadn't hit in a competitive game since middle school. His alma mater of Siegel High School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee had such a large program that his coaches made it clear he would only be useful as a pitcher, and the teams from his college years through his 2016 season in the Class A Advanced Florida State League also utilized designated hitters.
Coming into that sixth-inning at-bat, Coley was 0-for-10 with four strikeouts and a walk through his plate appearances in recent memory,. He broke the pattern with a liner up the middle on the first pitch he saw.
"I don't know how fair it is that he loses the no-hitter to a pitcher who ambushes his first pitch. ... There was definitely some luck involved. It wasn't on the barrel, but I'll take it," he said. "He was rolling. He did an unbelievable job. He has a great fastball and great off-speed stuff too. I knew if he got to the off-speed against me it was going to be pretty tough."
In the meantime, Coley was pretty tough himself. He shrugged off a first-inning walk of Angelo Mora. In the third, he worked around a single by No. 8 hitter Malquin Canelo, punching out Viza and getting Zachary Coppola to bounce out on a fielder's choice to fifth-ranked Pirates prospectCole Tucker with Canelo on the run.
"After the Canelo hit, [Viza] was looking to bunt the runner over. I threw some good fastballs in that at-bat, and I was able to strike him out on a curveball. That boosts your confidence -- to execute some fastballs like that," Coley said.
"We got a little lucky on [Coppola's] at-bat. I don't know if it was a hit-and-run, but Canelo was going and [Coppola] hit a slow chopper. With [shortstop] Cole covering second base, it was an easy play to make. But if they had played back, I don't know if he would have been able to throw out the leadoff guy there."
With two down, he got Mora to pop out and cruised through a 1-2-3 fourth. Chace Numata opened the fifth with a single, but once again, Coley retired the next three in a row.
"After [the third], I was getting my fastball more in the zone and executing my other pitchers more as well," he said. "A lot of times, you can try to be too fine after the leadoff hitter gets on, and then an inning can snowball. And in that park, giving up a big home run is easy to do. I just trusted what Jin-De was calling behind the plate, didn't try to be too fine, and attacked with all three pitches."
Coley coasted through the end of the seventh, finishing his start with nine straight outs. The gem lowered his ERA to 2.90 -- third-best in the Eastern League -- over 22 games, 17 starts.
Jerrick Suiter delivered a two-run double to break the scoreless tie in the top of the eighth, but Reading threatened in the bottom half, loading the bases against Jake Brentz. Luis Heredia came in with one out and collected back-to-back strikeouts to preserve the shutout.
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"I was in the clubhouse getting my post work in, but I had MiLB.TV up on my phone," Coley said. "Talk about a tough situation to come into. It was awesome to see him do that, and it's great to be able to go to a guy like that. I'm sure that felt great for him, and it was huge for our team to get out of that."
Tate Scioneaux worked around two hits in the ninth to notch his ninth save of the season.
Tucker went 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored, and Jhang logged two hits.
Viza allowed four hits over seven shutout frames, walking one and fanning three.
Josh Jackson is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow and interact with him on Twitter, @JoshJacksonMiLB.
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