Dust Devil relievers Erb, Scholtens impress in pro debuts

The Tri-City Dust Devils lost a heartbreaker Saturday night at Gesa Stadium, their first defeat of the season, 1-0 to the Everett AquaSox in 10 innings, But it was a couple of rookie arms making their pro debuts for Tri-City that stole the show.

Dalton Erb relieved starter Angel Mejia in the sixth inning, then Jesse Scholtens took over in the eighth, and the pair of rookie righties combined for four scoreless innings. Each allowed only one hit.

The 6-foot-8, 250-pound Erb said the he felt the pressure of pitching in his first professional game as soon as his cleats hit the diamond.

“There were definitely nerves coming out to the mound for the first time, but once I got to throw a few pitches I settled down a little bit,” Erb said. “I fuel off the pressure; I like coming out in the tough situation.”

Erb located his fastball well and got AquaSox hitters to roll over on his curveball. Dust Devils manager Ben Fritz said that while Erb may not flash dazzling numbers on the radar gun, his big frame and downhill delivery make it tough for opposing hitters to get comfortable against him.

Scholtens said he managed his nerves pretty well Saturday, but the three-year starter at Wright State University couldn’t help but get a little amped coming out of the bullpen.

“You’ve just got to keep it where it’s at and realize it’s the same game I’ve been playing for the last 18 years,” Scholtens said. “But coming out of the bullpen for the first time, there was a little bit of extra adrenaline.”

Like Erb, Scholtens was in command of his fastball, but his biting slider was vicious enough to strike out four AquaSox batters.

Fritz said Scholtens’ swing-and-miss ability with his slider can make him a good pitcher, but what could make him great is his baseball IQ.

Scholtens got a chance to display that pitching savvy when his first inning of work didn’t get off to a great start after leadoff hitter Kristian Brito reached on a base hit. A sacrifice bunt moved Brito to second, and a strikeout put two outs on the board with lefty Nick Zammarelli coming up to the plate.

Scholtens picked at the corners and fell behind 2-1 to Zammarelli, but rather than try to get a strike over, Scholtens continued to pitch away from the lefty and walked him on five pitches. Scholtens then proceeded to go right after the next batter, righty Johan Quevedo, and struck him out with a slider to get out of the jam.

Scholtens was unprompted in pitching around Zammarelli, Fritz said, and the Dust Devils manager was impressed with the head games his pitcher played with the AquaSox lineup.

“I was 100 percent alright with that walk,” Fritz said. “You’ve got a righty coming up and a free base with a lefty at the plate — ‘that guy is not going to beat me.’ ”

With the performances Erb and Scholtens turned in Saturday, Fritz said he feels a lot more comfortable going to rookies in his bullpen in high-leverage situations.

NOTES

A returner to the Dust Devils starting rotation this season, Mejia had his “A” game in his first tilt of the year, tossing five scoreless innings of one-hit ball.

Everett’s Gus Craig produced the first and only score of the game when he hit a towering home run down the right-field line to lead off the top of the 10th against Tri-City’s Jose Castillo.

ON DECK

The Spokane Indians (1-2) roll into Pasco on Monday to start a three-game series with the Dust Devils. All games are scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m.

Here are the pitching probables for the series (Spokane’s pitcher listed first):

Monday: Luke Lanphere (RHP, 0-0 0.00 ERA) vs. Jordan Guerrero (RHP, 0-0 0.00 ERA)

Tuesday: Sal Mendez (LHP, 0-1, 27.00 ERA) vs. Braxton Lorenzini (RHP, 0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Wednesday: Kyle Cody (RHP, 0-0, 9.00 ERA) vs. Emmanuel Ramirez (RHP, 0-0, 0.00 ERA)

This story was originally published June 19, 2016 at 7:57 PM with the headline "Dust Devil relievers Erb, Scholtens impress in pro debuts."