Austin Coley battles through command issues to position Marauders for blowout of Cardinals
BRADENTON -- It's hard to find a thread through Austin Coley's last two strong starts, which have helped him recover nicely from a shaky first two to start the season.
In his third start, he had his best stuff and strong command. He pounded strikes and got swings-and-misses. In start No. 4 he didn't do any of that. He threw too many pitches and too many outside the zone. Michael Ryan tried to find a common thread anyway.
"He wasn't real confident, I don't think, and questioned some of his pitches that he was throwing or he didn't want to throw pitches in certain counts because he didn't think he could," the manager said, diagnosing the first eight innings of Coley's season when he surrendered 10 runs. "Tonight at least he tried. That's a huge difference and can change an outing."
Coley followed up his best start of the season with an even more productive one Wednesday and the Marauders beat the Cardinals, 6-1. After stumbling through his first two appearances of the season, Coley held Palm Beach to one run in five innings with four strikeouts and one walk on April 21 in Jupiter. This time, the pitcher allowed one run in 5 1/3 in Bradenton despite walking four. He left the mound at McKechnie game with a one-run lead the Marauders (9-11) busted open into a rout during the seventh inning.
Coley (2-2) felt good about his progress even during his second start of the season, when the pitcher lasted only 3 1/3 innings and gave up five earned runs. All six of the runs the Cardinals (11-9) scored against Coley came during his abbreviated fourth frame. For three innings, he felt like the pitcher who has dropped his ERA from 10.13 to 5.40 in two starts.
Even in the bullpen before he stepped onto the mound in front of 549, Coley felt fine. The mechanical hitches that led to four earned runs in 4 2/3 innings during his debut with the Pirates' Class A Advanced affiliate were gone and the former eighth-round pick was ready to build on the progress of his past two outings. He struck out the first batter he faced.
"I felt good in the bullpen," Coley said. "Got out there and was just a little out of sync."
He hit the next batter and by the end of the first inning he had already coughed up one run and needed 25 pitches to make it through. With a short bullpen, Ryan needed his starter to tread water and get through at least five. Coley gave him his longest outing of this short season.
Although he walked a season-high four batters and struck out fewer than three for the first time this year, Coley made it through two batters in the sixth inning on 88 pitchers before relief pitcher Junior Lopez replaced him. Palm Beach's lead was gone by then and an inning later Bradenton pulled away.
Michael Suchy, a Southeast alumnus, triggered the Marauders' rally with a lead-off walk in the seventh against Cardinals pitcher Blake McKnight (0-2). The outfielder, who went 1 for 2 with two walks from the No. 8 spot, scored on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Kramer three batters later to stretch Bradenton's lead to 3-1 before a two-run double by slugger Jerrick Suiter turned the narrow edge into a comfortable 5-1 cushion.
"It's somebody different every single night," Coley said. "One night it might by Suchy, another night it might by (No. 9-hitter Elvis) Escobar. One through nine."
David Wilson, Herald sports writer, can be contacted at 941-745-7057 or on Twitter @DBWilson2.
This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Austin Coley battles through command issues to position Marauders for blowout of Cardinals ."