Mike Vukovcan What a day for former Hopewell Vikings star pitcher Joe Rock.
This morning, Rock got the news that he was getting promoted from AAA Durham to the major leagues to join the Tampa Bay Rays as they took on the Baltimore Orioles.
Hopewell softball and youth baseball is sponsored by Lisa McCoy, your neighborhood State Farm agent.
After arriving in Baltimore to join his new teammates, a few hours later, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash didn’t waste any time getting him into the game.
With Tampa ahead 11-1, Cash brought in Rock to pitch the 8th inning and the left-hander had a successful opening frame.
Rock stepped to the mound and faced Cedric Mullins in his MLB and got him to ground out to second base. Here was Rock’s first MLB out.
The rest of the 8th went well for Rock as after the next batter reached via error and after allowing his first MLB hit to former 1st round pick Jackson Holliday, Rock went on to struck out Ramon Urias and Gunnar Henderson swinging to end the frame.
Cash then decided to bring Rock out to close the game. Rock did allow a single and a home run but settled down to record a force out and struck out Mullins and Holliday to end the game.
So, in his MLB debut, Rock pitched 2 innings, allowed 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 0 walks and struck out 4.
Congrats Joe on pitching in your first major league game!!
