Hens' Douglass gets roughed up in May
5/4/2005Sean Douglass probably wanted April to last forever.
The Mud Hens right-hander was 3-0 last month, allowing just two earned runs in 241/3 innings for a 0.74 ERA that was best in the International League.
But it's May, and in his first outing of the new month the 26-year-old was roughed up for eight hits and six earned runs, taking the 6-0 Indianapolis loss.
"There's going to be games like this where you have a rough outing," Douglass said. "No one is going to pitch lights-out for the whole year. You just have to get over it."
The Indians cracked four hits, including a pair of doubles, and scored four second-inning runs against Douglass.
"None of my off-speed stuff was very good," he said. "My breaking ball was more of a 'get-me-over' - it didn't have much bite to it. I wasn't locating my fastball well enough to put people away, and my breaking ball wasn't good enough to put people away."
Douglass cruised through the next four innings, allowing only two baserunners - neither of whom reached second.
The six runs allowed resulted in his first loss and lifted his season ERA to 2.32, which still puts Douglass among the IL's ERA leaders.
"I thought he started to get the ball down better," said Hens manager Larry Parrish. "Early on he got a couple of off-speed pitches up and they whacked them. He just didn't make some pitches early.
"And give credit to them: when he made a mistake, they hit it."
ONE-TRICK PONY: In three games against Indianapolis this season the Mud Hens have managed just two runs and 12 hits, and Parrish is troubled with the way his team has been handled.
"We've faced these guys in three games, and they've beat us three times with just a fastball," Parrish said. "And not a 95 [mile-per-hour] fastball; they throw
90, 91, 88. We've got to have some better swings."
THREE-DOT DATA: Left-hander Doug Creek came on in the seventh with two runners on base and allowed both to score. That marked the first time this season he had allowed an inherited runner to score after stranding his first nine. Hens catcher Brandon Harper saw a seven-game hitting streak end.