SEATTLE – His first two pitches were so full of adrenaline they came within an area code of the strike zone.
The next 105 were pure precision. At least all but the six that Clint Nageotte gave up for hits.
Otherwise, the 23-year-old rookie right-hander was all the Seattle Mariners had hoped for Monday night, pitching six solid innings in the Mariners’ 5-0 victory over the Houston Astros.
Starting in place of Gil Meche, who’s now at Class AAA Tacoma, Nageotte admitted to feeling some nerves and adrenaline before his first major league start, especially against an Astros team that leads the National League in hitting.
“I had to think to myself that I’d be doing myself an injustice if I went out there and didn’t trust my stuff and throw strikes,” Nageotte said.
He trusted his fastball and a breaking pitch that had the look of a hard-biting slider at times and a sweeping curve others.
He struck out Jeff Kent twice with that pitch and fanned Lance Berkman with a 76 mph floater that befuddled more than the Astros slugger.
We werent really sure what that pitch was, manager Bob Melvin said. Bryan Price (the Mariners pitching coach) and I looked at each other and went, I dont know what that is. Maybe hes inventing stuff out there.
The Mariners backed Nageotte with a three-run first inning that knocked Astros starter Brandon Duckworth from the game, then added single runs in the third and fifth.
Scott Spiezio, hitless in his previous 23 at-bats, went 3-for-3, walked once and drove in two runs with a first-inning single and a fifth-inning home run, his sixth of the season.
I asked them to stop the game and give me the ball, but they wouldnt do it, Spiezio said. Of even greater importance to the Mariners offense is that Spiezio, limited to left-handed hitting the last few weeks because of a tender oblique muscle, seems ready to bat from both sides of the plate now.
Spiezio seemed just as eager to talk about Nageottes performance as his own.
He made some incredible pitches against some incredible hitters, Spiezio said.
Nageotte, considered the Mariners star pitcher of the future almost from the day they drafted him in 1999, kept the Astros off balance with an assortment of fastballs and sliders. Besides the six singles and three walks, he struck out eight Astros, including Kent, Berkman and Richard Hidalgo two times each.
In the third inning, the Astros had the bases loaded with two outs and Kent, with 43 RBI and a 21-game hitting streak, at the plate. Nageotte threw two quick strikes, couldnt get him to chase a low-outside fastball, then got Kent to swing through an 81 mph slider that took a wicked turn at the last second.
The Astros also had runners on first and second with two outs in the fourth and fifth, but Nageotte got Raul Chavez on a fly to center in the fourth and struck out Berkman with his slow bender.
I dont even call it a slider any more, Nageotte said. I change speeds with it. Its really just a breaking ball.
Whatever, it helped Nageotte win over the crowd of 28,556, which put the Mariners over the 1 million mark in attendance for the season 1,003,387 in their 29th home game. They topped 1 million last year in their 28th home game.
Nageotte pitched around a one-out single by Hidalgo to keep the Astros scoreless in the sixth, and right-hander Julio Mateo preserved the shutout with three solid innings of relief.
Mateo, who gave up a double to Craig Biggio and a single to Adam Everett to start the seventh, struck out Bagwell and got a double play to end that inning, then retired the Astros 1-2-3 in the eighth and ninth for his first save this season.
It sent Nageotte well on his way to victory in his first major league start, and it continued the Mariners superiority in interleague games. Theyre 66-57 against National League teams, the fourth-best interleague record among AL teams.
The Mariners now face a dilemma besides figuring how to handle Roger Clemens tonight. They must decide when Nageotte will pitch again.
With two off days in the next five, the Ms had thought about skipping Nageottes turn in the rotation.
His performance Monday may change that.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
