[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2nvKC2BNhE]
Nick Tropeano didn’t disappoint his Long Island fans in his season debut last night–facing a perennial playoff team in the Oakland Athletics, he dominated to the tune of six shutout innings with five strikeouts.
He received only one hit of support from his offense, but it didn’t matter. Tropeano navigated around a dangerous lineup that included Ben Zobrist, Stephen Vogt, Ike Davis, Billy Butler and Josh Reddick.
Huston Street sealed the victory with a scoreless ninth inning.
Tropeano threw 97 pitches on the night, with 64 going for strikes–a tremendous percentage. He threw 50 fastballs, 28 sliders and 19 change ups.
With C.J. Wilson and Matt Shoemaker expected to make their next starts, it appears that Tropeano will be sent back to Triple-A despite his dominating start.
In the event of any injury to the current crop of starts, he would be the obvious choice to be re-called.
