Lynchburg Hillcats even up series with 1-0 win over Wilmington Blue Rocks

P.J. Forbes was waiting for the Pirates’ brass to “take the shackles” off talented pitcher Rudy Owens.

“And the guy with the key was here,” the Hillcats manager said, pointing to Pittsburgh director of player development Kyle Stark, who was sitting in the manager’s office after Lynchburg beat Wilmington 1-0 Thursday to knot the Carolina League Northern Division championship series at a game apiece.

“You think that’s funny?” Starks said dryly. “I told them he could throw 135 pitches. And they took him out after six innings.”

In those six innings, Owens dominated the Blue Rocks, holding them to four hits while striking out six and walking just one. After spending much of the season toying with Low-A batters in the South Atlantic League, Owens threw for the first time at the High-A level without the collar of a strict pitch count. And Wilmington had no answer.

“Tonight was a big night for me,” Owens said. “I needed to prove to myself that I could compete with these hitters. I think I did that tonight.”

Owens, Matt McSwain, Ramon Aguero and Ronald Uviedo combined on the six-hitter. Uviedo punctuated the victory in the ninth, getting Nick Van Stratten to strike out swinging on an outside slider. Uviedo, who began his career as a closer, pounded on his chest after the out as his teammates celebrated behind him.

In two games, the Hillcats scratched out two runs. But it was enough to head to Delaware with a split of the series’ first two games.

“That’s how a lot of the games with these guys have gone,” Forbes said. “We beat them 1-0 at their park. It’s about executing. And (pitching coach) Wally (Whitehurst) set up a great plan for these guys and they went out and executed. Any time you do that, you’re going to give yourself an opportunity to win a ballgame.”

The Hillcats scratched the game’s lone run across in the second inning. Jamie Romak singled and moved to third on Tony Sanchez’s single. Matt Hague hit a slow grounder to second. Wilmington opted to try to turn the double play, but Hague beat out the throw to first, and Romak scored easily from third.

That was all Lynchburg could muster against Blue Rocks starter Danny Duffy, the top rated pitcher in Kansas City’s system. Duffy allowed three hits, walked two and struck out seven in six innings.

“He has some pretty good stuff up there on the mound,” Hague said. “He was keeping us off balance. It’s pretty hard to cheat when he’s throwing all three of his pitches pretty well.”

Owens recently earned SAL pitcher of the year honors after going 10-1 with a sub-2.00 ERA before his promotion to Lynchburg. His fastball location was consistent and he mixed in enough breaking balls to keep Wilmington guessing. He threw his changeup sparingly, but when he did, it was devastating. He got out of a big jam in the fifth when Ryan Eigsti and Luis Del Rosario reached on consecutive two-out infield singles.

That was exactly how Wilmington rallied for a four-run inning in Game 1, nickel and diming the Hillcats in the second with four RBI singles. But Owens locked down with two outs and struck out Derrick Robinson to end the threat.