By Justin Lawson
jlawson@nevadaappeal.com
When Billy Buckner got the call to return to the Reno Aces' parent club, the Arizona Diamondbacks, he hoped it was for good. But the taste of the majors, would be short lived as he struggled to a 2-5 record and gave up 31 earned runs.
But the eighth-rated prospect in the organization showed Friday why he was deserved of the such a high ranking in an 8-0 win over the Tacoma Rainiers at Aces Ballpark in front of a crowd of 8,013.
"A little Billy Ball," Aces manager Brett Butler said. "Best he's thrown all year. He had his composure, he went after hitters, he pitched like a big-league pitcher today. They called him up because they believe he's got big-league talent and he showed exactly what it takes to get there and stay there and now it's replicating that and continuing that on a continuous basis. And if that be the case, he'll be up there in a short period of time."
The Aces kickoff a four-game series with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox at 7:05 p.m. today at Aces Ballpark.
Buckner (6-3) struck out a career- and franchise-high 12 batters in his first complete game shutout of his career. It was also his first complete game and his fourth consecutive quality start.
"Was that a career high?" Buckner asked. "I felt good. Our pitching coach, Bird, (Mike Parrott) challenged me today to go out there and be aggressive from the beginning. Sometimes I tried to get into the flow of the game and other times it takes a little while to get me fired up. So he challenged me to get right after the hitters straight from the beginning."
Buckner was called up to the Diamondbacks for seven games beginning May 22 after starting the season with the parent club, but after a poor string of starts was sent back down. In his first appearance back with the Aces, he picked up a win and gave up just one run, but gave up eight in his next start. In his last four starts he hasn't given up more than three runs.
Buckner struck out two batters in each of the first two innings and handed Prentice Redman his second strikeout of the game in the third inning. He didn't register another strikeout until facing Redman for the third time in the night in the sixth. He then got Brian LaHair on the Rainiers' next at-bat. Alex Cintron and Josh Wilson joined his list of victims in the seventh. Oswaldo Navarro led off the eighth with Buckner's 10th strikeout of the game, which tied his previous high. Two batters later Redman earned the vaunted Golden Sombrero when he was struck out for the fourth time.
"I think I was able to keep my curveball down tonight," Buckner said. "I didn't have to use it early in the counts. I was able to get ahead in the count and definitely the key for me, or any pitcher, is to get ahead. Once I was able to get into pitcher's counts, I was able to bust the curveball in."
Only Jerry Owens and Adam Moore didn't make Buckner's strikeout list.
Of the four hits Buckner gave up, three were doubles.
The offense was fired up in the seventh inning when Luke Carlin, in just his second game back with the team after seven games with the Diamondbacks, led off the inning with a double to the right field corner. Then, two batters later, Abraham Nunez connected on a 3-2 pitch and drove a homer into the Aces' bullpen just outside of right field to give them a 2-0 lead.
The Aces tacked on six more runs in the bottom of the eighth when they batted around the order. The long inning put Buckner's status for the ninth in doubt in some people's eyes, but Butler said pulling him wasn't even a thought. All that mattered is that Buckner continue to show the same promise that everyone else in the organization sees in him.
"To be honest with you, the one thing that Billy Buckner needs to work on is his mental aspect of the game," Butler said. "It's him being able to not get rattled if something goes wrong, if he walks a guy. Sometimes he'll do that and tonight you can see he pitched like a big-league pitcher and performed like one."