CLEVELAND, Ohio – Dr. Sticks delivered just as Todd Isaacs dreamed he would.
Dr. Sticks is Triston McKenzie, the 6-5, 165-pound right-back who knocked out 10 Detroit Tigers in his big league debut for the Indians on Saturday night at Progressive Field. That’s more strikeouts than any pitcher in Indian history has been in her debut with the exception of Luis Tiant, who struck out 11 in nine innings against the Yankees on July 19, 1964.
You want a perfect nickname for baseball? Shoeless Joe. The Yankee Clipper. The Georgia Peach. Now, McKenzie has thrown exactly one game into the big leagues and Dr. Sticks is about as good as it gets. He has the longest legs in the major leagues and the wing play of a Condor.
Isaacs, who was drafted in 2015 by the Indians along with McKenzie, gave it to him. Isaacs is now in the minor leagues with the Rockies.
On Thursday, the Indians announced that McKenzie would start against the Tigers. Even before that, however, Isaacs McKenzie sent an instant message via Twitter that he dreamed of hitting 10 fighters in his major league debut. McKenzie responded by saying, “I’m trying to achieve this.”
Saturday night he did that. McKenzie, in his first start in an actual game since 2018, led one run in six innings as the Indians defeated Detroit, 6-1. The Indians train 1-0 after McKenzie passed the sixth, his last inning. But they made him a winner by scoring four points in the bottom of the sixth.
“It did not go that way in my head,” McKenzie told reporters about a Zoom call after the game. “By no means. I thought I had a solid outing and I did not lose. This was better than expected.”
As for the dreammaker, McKenzie said: ‘I’m so glad someone brought it up because he has to play the lottery. . . Go out to my friend, Todd Isaacs. ”
The only run he allowed came from the ball of Willi Castro, another former minor league team player. They played handball together in 2016, 2017 and 2018 in the Indian farm system. Castro was hired to the Tigers in 2018 for outfielder Leonys Martin.
In the fourth inning Saturday, Castro hit an 88 mph change 445 feet in the right field seats.
‘Sore subject,’ McKenzie said when asked about Castro. “Willi and I are really close. I talked to him before Friday’s game. I talked to him a bit before today’s game. The fact that he was the one who hit my house was, I think, very ironic. But I got him back there in the end (strikeout to finish the sixth inning). We go back and forth all the time. ‘
Did the fact that Castro McKenzie had seen pitch give him an advantage that the rest of the Tigers did not have?
“I would not say he had an advantage because of that,” McKenzie said. ‘Willi is a good hitter. I made a mistake and he certainly capitalized on it. That ball was crushed. ”
The Indians drafted McKenzie from Royal Palm Beach High School in Florida. When McKenzie was seven or eight years old, Miguel Cabrera broke in with the Miami Marlins as a 20-year-old striking phenomenon. He helped her win the 2003 World Series.
“He’s literally a living legend there,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie beat Cabrera twice in the first and fourth innings. Cabrera, the last winner of Triple Crown, was overpowered.
“I’m still driving at the moment,” McKenzie said. “I would probably say it will really bother me if I go home and play MLB The Show or something and I see Miggy in the game.”
McKenzie threw 80 pitches, including 46 fastballs, 18 curves, nine substitutions and seven sliders. His fastball averaged 94.5 mph, peaking at 96.5 mph, according to baseball savant.com.
Roberto Perez, the catcher of the Indians ‘Gold Glove’, had never met McKenzie before catching him in the ball game before the game. He asked McKenzie to rate his pitches, McKenzie named his fastball and curve as No.1 and No. 2.
“He rode that fastball up there and, oh man, it was fun,” Perez said. “He threw it in the zone and they swung at it like it was 100 mph.”
McKenzie shook Perez a lot, which Indian pitchers mostly don’t do. Perez left him because he did not want to confuse McKenzie’s mind. Let the kids play, right.
The Indians know how novice pitchers are developed. They do pitching like Apple iPhones do. Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, Zach Plesac, Mike Clevinger, Trevor Bauer and two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber to name a few. They had been waiting for McKenzie for almost two years to take his place as a rule, but they did not know if he could stay in one piece long enough. He missed the first half of the 2018 season with a strained forearm. A tight right rotator cuff and and pectoral muscle cost him 2019.
He went to his first camp in the big league in February, but he was wrapped in gauze. The Indians would not let him be slaughtered for fear of another injury. After being sent to the minors, he was scheduled to appear in games and then hit the pandemic. The closest he came to game action was checks at Classic Park in Eastlake. He stood for good hitters, but there were not enough players to have a full 10-on-10 game without a coach playing second base as a right fielder.
“Honestly, it did not really occur to me until closer to the game day that I had not thrown in a live game against another team for a long time,” McKenzie said. “But I would say that my daily process mainly tries to stay locked in what will take me to my next outing. . . that’s what I’ll do next. ‘
Not only did it take McKenzie a long time to get to Saturday night, but when he did, there was no one in the stands. No proud mom and dad, brothers and sisters, girlfriend, agents and former coaches. They had to watch TV. Except third baseman Nolan Jones, who replaced McKenzie as the Indians’ top player this spring. Jones, who trained with McKenzie at Classic Park, climbed the parking garage behind the left field bleachers to watch the debut.
“I think one, it shows the great character of the guys that the Indians have in general,” McKenzie said. “Nolan is a really good friend of mine and he did not have to do that, but he did and I will try to be there for him, because I will feel bad if I am not. He could not even enter the stadium and he looked. ”
If and when that happens, there’s a good chance McKenzie and Jones will become teammates of the big league.
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