Pelicans’ Rohrbough rights himself against Hillcats

Cole Rohrbough’s season started smoothly enough. The Atlanta farmhand allowed no more than one earned run in any of his first five starts, but May 28 against Winston-Salem, things took a sudden turn for the worse.

He allowed five hits and three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings that night against the Dash, not a terrible start by any means, but certainly a harbinger of a tough stretch to come. He faced the Dash five days later, and Winston-Salem lit Rohrbough up for 11 hits and 10 earned runs in 2 2/3 innings. In his next three starts, he allowed a combined 10 earned runs.

Enough was enough, Rohrbough said, so he had a conversation with the organization’s pitching instructors.

“We had been trying to work on a few new things, but recently, we came to an agreement that maybe we should try some of the old things,” said Rohrbough, who allowed one hit in 5 2/3 innings Thursday as Myrtle Beach opened the second half of the Carolina League season with a 6-0 win over the Hillcats at City Stadium. “So that’s what me and the pitching coach here (Guy Hansen) have been doing. I’m a lot more comfortable with the old stuff.”

Rohrbough, hailed as the top left-hander in the Braves’ organization, looked the part Thursday, save for some control problems (he issued a season-high five walks). The only hit against him came with two outs in the fifth, when Lynchburg catcher Joel Collins hit a bloop fly to shallow center field. Pelicans center fielder C.J. Lee appeared to have made a diving catch, but umpires ruled it a trap, breaking up the no-hitter.

“When C.J. came to the dugout, I looked him in the eye and asked him if it was a catch,” Rohrbough said. “He said, ‘I swear to God I caught it.’ So he definitely caught it.”

Rohrbrough mixed three pitches — a zippy fastball, a plus curveball and a strong changeup — and kept Lynchburg hitters puzzled all night. The Hillcats, playing their first game without the recently promoted Pedro Alvarez and Miles Durham, struggled to find any rhythm at the plate.

“He had good movement on his curveball and his fastball tailed away,” Hillcats shortstop Chase d’Arnaud said. “He kept the ball down for the most part, and when you do that, good things will happen.”

D’Arnaud was making his first Lynchburg appearance after spending the first half of the season at Low-A West Virginia. He led off and played short, and incumbent shortstop Jordy Mercer started at designated hitter. D’Arnaud and Mercer will likely each play short and third at times in the second half. D’Arnaud, who hit third in all but one game this season in Charleston, will have to adjust to leading off again, something he hasn’t done since playing for State College last summer.

“I think I’ll be fine,” D’Arnaud said. “The leadoff spot is a spot where you’ve got to be a good hitter with two strikes, which I definitely am. I’ve got a little experience, but maybe here they’ll fine tune my leadoff approach.”

The Pelicans had no problem finding a groove against Hillcats left-hander Jeff Locke, who just last month was pitching for Myrtle Beach. Locke managed to control the damage, though, allowing just three earned runs in seven innings despite allowing 10 hits.

“It was really weird,” Rohrbough said. “I talked to him before the game and told him he had a great opportunity here. But it was definitely weird pitching against him.”