Locke sparkles in debut with the Hillcats

Jeff Locke’s season began to unravel in Lynchburg on May 6, when the left-handed pitcher allowed a season-high 11 hits in five innings against the Hillcats.

“That was (what started) the slide, right there,” Locke said Tuesday night after the Hillcats’ 3-2 win over Frederick.

A bit more than a month later, Locke returned to City Stadium in a different uniform, trying to reverse what has been a woeful string of performances of late.

Locke was a key part of the trade last week that sent Pirates outfielder Nate McLouth from Pittsburgh to Atlanta. He was one of three minor leaguers in the deal — pitcher Charlie Morton and outfielder Gorkys Hernandez were the others. Locke’s stuff wasn’t necessarily in question. He was the No. 7 prospect in the Atlanta organization and touted by Baseball America as the best pitching prospect from the state of New Hampshire since Chris Carpenter.

Locke’s first start for Lynchburg Tuesday wasn’t close to perfect. He consistently fell behind in counts and labored through four innings.

He threw enough pitches in the first to get close to the 35-pitch inning maximum mandated by the Pirates’ organization, so close that reliever Mike Colla began warming up in the pen.

“First time out with a new organization, maybe he was trying to do too much,” Hillcats pitching coach Wally Whitehurst said. “He didn’t have command early, and it cost him a lot of pitches. A lot of deep counts. A lot of foul balls.”

In the end, Locke’s line was average — four innings, five hits, two earned runs allowed, two walks and four strikeouts in a Hillcats victory secured when Miles Durham scored on a Luis Lebron wild pitch in a driving rain with one out in the ninth.

But it was much better than Locke’s previous start, when he allowed seven earned runs for Myrtle Beach at Wilmington and recorded just two outs. That was 10 days ago, so it took Locke some time to find a rhythm.

“It’s always a good feeling to know the team came through for you and won,” Locke said. “It’s a good feeling to know when I came out of the game, we were still in it. That’s always been by No. 1 focus — keeping the ballclub in it.”

Locke struggled with the Pelicans this season, going 1-4 with a 5.52 ERA in 10 starts. Command was a major issue, as he walked 26 in 45 2/3 innings. But Locke is still plenty young. He won’t turn 22 until November. And the Pirates liked his upside enough to make him part of a trade for an All-Star center fielder.

Locke said he was shocked by the trade, only because it came so early in the season. But he also called it an honor to be part of the organization, and gushed about his new teammates after the game.

“The talent is unreal,” Locke said. “I was in Wilmington for two days, for both doubleheaders (last weekend). No one ever gave up on an at-bat. It always seemed like they battled. If they struck out, they went down swinging. Every at-bat was crucial.”

That was certainly the case when Kent Sakamoto came up with the bases loaded in the ninth.

He got Lynchburg on the board with an RBI triple in the fifth and came to the plate in a big spot with one out in the ninth. He worked the count to 1-2 as a drizzle quickly turned into a torrential downpour. Lebron lost control of the next pitch, firing well over the head of catcher Caleb Joseph. Durham scored easily, and the Hillcats snapped their first three-game skid of the season.