Chase De Jong got another call to the bigs from the Seattle Mariners over the weekend.
2014 Vancouver Canadians pitcher Chase De Jong received his second call-up to the majors made and his second appearance for the Seattle Mariners during their game in Oakland Saturday. After a heartbreaking major league debut in Houston, he threw four scoreless innings of relief on one hit and two walks while striking out two in the Mariners 4-3 loss to the A’s on Saturday. The 23 year-old righty struck out Jaff Decker and Adam Rosales in the seventh inning for his first big league K’s, both looking. Mariners manager Scott Servais said De Jong gave the team what they needed.
“Chase threw the ball outstanding. He had been throwing great [in Triple-A Tacoma]. The sour taste he left with us last time from that game in Houston, he said, ‘I’m going to learn from this.’ And he certainly has.
“He handled himself really good, mixed in all his pitches and was kind of the guy we thought we were getting. That was a real positive for us today, to keep us right in the game there after a shaky start by Miranda.”
De Jong threw a fastball that ranged from 88-92 miles per hour along with a curve around 76 miles per hour, a slider from 80-82 and a changeup around 83. He finished up strong by retiring six in a row and seven of his last eight hitters. For De Jong, it was a case of following his game plan.
“My mentality was just to cover the innings the team needed and save the bullpen from having to come in and clean up my mess,” he said. “Pitch to contact and go right after guys because that’s what they need out of me. They don’t need me trying to punch everybody out and walking guys. They needed me to cover my innings.”
De Jong was sent back down to Tacoma after the game where he has won both of his starts with the Rainiers, posting a 1.74 ERA over 10-1/3 innings while posting a K/BB total of 10-5. It shouldn’t be long before he heads back to Seattle for his Safeco Field debut.
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