El Paso Report: Overton Dazzles in Return to Tacoma
Tacoma, Washington
Dillon Overton made the start for the El Paso Chihuahuas in Tacoma on Saturday.
He felt right at home, as El Paso won 2-0. The lef-handed pitcher had made seven appearances for the Rainiers earlier this season (1-2, 9.33 ERA). He even made an appearance against El Paso on June 16th. He went four innings, allowing seven earned runs with four walks. Two days later he was designated for assignment by the Seattle Mariners and the Padres picked him up.
Saturday night, Overton had easily his best start of the 2017 season and perhaps one of the best of his pro career.
Like a man on a mission, he hurled seven shutout innings and struck out two with just three hits and zero walks. His command was present all night as the Rainiers could not find the barrel of their bats. 16 of his 21 outs were in the air, and very weakly hit.
For Tacoma, their big 6’8″ right-hander, Max Povse, didn’t disappoint either.
He held the Chihuahuas to one run without any hits. Povse struck out seven batters in 4.2 innings and just walked one. The lone base runner was Christian Villanueva, who worked a walk in the 5th, stole his fourth base of the season, and scored on a Jose Rondon single.
Villanueva helped seal the deal for the Chihuahuas with a solo shot to right field in the ninth. He now has 19, which ties him with Ryan Schimpf for second on the club. The third baseman scored the only runs of the night for either club.
Rondon, in his second game since returning from the disabled list and some rehab starts in the AZL, went 1 for 3 with an RBI single and a walk. He has three hits in two games since his return.
Jose Valdez pitched in the 8th, allowing a walk and a hit, but no run was scored off the right-handed pitcher. Kevin Quackenbush came in for the save in the ninth and struck out Andrew Aplin looking to end the game with a runner on second.
The Chihuahuas move to 63-64 on the year, just 1.5 games behind first place Salt Lake (Salt Lake was trailing in the seventh)
Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.