Hillcats' ace starter Vizcaino tweaks back, pulls himself out

Three pitches into the fourth inning Monday at City Stadium, Arodys Vizcaino had had enough.

The Hillcats pitcher, who missed a chunk of the 2009 season with a strained muscle in his lower back, told the coaching staff he felt a tweak, a small spasm. And with his command all over the map, Vizcaino was pulled in the middle of Joey Lewis’ second at-bat after throwing three straight balls.

Vizcaino’s injury was the major storyline as Wilmington routed the Hillcats 8-1 and kept Lynchburg winless in six home games. The right-hander was a key part of the December 2009 trade that sent Javier Vazquez from Atlanta to the Yankees, and he opened the season ranked seventh on Baseball America’s list of Atlanta prospects.

One of the biggest concerns about Vizcaino is his durability. He’s never pitched more than 86 innings in a season as he’s dealt with a slew of nagging injuries, including a partially torn ligament last year and the 2009 back injury.

"We hope it’s day-to-day and not too serious," Hillcats manager Luis Salazar said. "He said he felt something two batters before, but he went out and tried to pitch. I knew there was something wrong when he was up in the zone the entire game."

Vizcaino threw first-pitch strikes to three of the first four batters he faced, but his command was spotty after that. He threw first-pitch balls to the final six batters he faced, and many of those pitches were up in the zone. Still, he was cruising until there were two outs in the second. Carlo Testa singled and Lewis bashed a no-doubt home run over the left-field fence for a 2-0 Wilmington lead. Vizcaino struggled from there on. He walked the No. 9 hitter, Ryan Eigsti, on four pitches and allowed singles to the next two batters to load the bases before getting Rey Navarro to ground out to first to end the threat.

Vizcaino has impressive stuff. His fastball sits in the 92-94 mph range and touches 96 when it’s humming. Even before the back tweak, Hillcats pitching coach Derek Botelho didn’t like what he saw from Vizcaino, especially once he stopped throwing first-pitch strikes.

"He’s going soft too much," Botelho said. "He’s not going out there and establishing his fastball right now. His back wasn’t bothering him in the first and second inning. He’s got to pick it up a notch, to me. He’s got to establish his fastball off the bat. He’s not a guy that throws 88-89. He throws 94, 95 mph. I think in the future when he’s out there, and we talked about it when he was taken out, that he’s pitching a little passive, and he needs to pick it up and pitch aggressively and establish his fastball. Then the other two pitches (changeup, curveball) will work off of that.

"Hitters right now are taking too good of hacks off of him."

Vizcaino has been hittable in his last two starts. He allowed nine hits in 5 1/3 innings last week in Salem in a no-decision, and he gave up six hits in three-plus innings before being pulled Monday. The Braves will certainly exercise caution with one of their more highly regarded prospects. Botelho said he didn’t think the injury was too serious, but it could have gotten much worse if he had stayed out and tried to fight through the back pain.

"He came in after the second inning, and (trainer) Ty (Cobbs) asked him about it, and he said, ‘No, no, it’s all right,’" Botelho said. "He went out in the third and finished that inning and he didn’t say anything to me on the bench. Two pitches into it (the fourth) he said he felt something, and after the third pitch, he said he felt it more. I think we caught it in time. He said he’s done it before when he was with the Yankees, and it set him back a bit. This one isn’t as bad. Just lower back tightness. We’ll get it evaluated a little bit more tomorrow and see where he is."

Offensively, the Hillcats struggled to mount any sort of charge against Wilmington starter Tim Melville. Entering the game, opponents were batting .417 off Melville, and the Hillcats took an aggressive approach at the plate, swinging early at fastballs. But Melville induced 10 hard-hit, ground-ball outs, and Lynchburg only managed to get three runners in scoring position all night.

"We hit the ball hard right at them," Salazar said. "We don’t have much luck."

None at all, in fact. The luck seems to be on the side of the opponents at City Stadium these days. For the second time in a week, the visitor hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score a runner from second, a rarity in baseball. On Monday, John Whittleman drilled a ball to the warning track that L.V. Ware had to catch while facing the wall. Nick Francis tagged up at second and was promptly waved around third. The throw in never reached home, and Francis scored to put Wilmington up 3-0.

"We’re going to break the ice here sooner or later," Salazar said. "But we’ve got to come out and play better fundamentally."