WASHINGTON — JR Ritchie was welcomed to the foremost leagues when the Washington Nationals‘ James Wood homered on his first pitch.
Ritchie, a 22-year-old right-hander, rebounded to win his debut, main the Atlanta Braves over Washington 7-2 on Thursday for his or her eighth win in 9 video games.
“One pitch into it, I was like, ‘Oh no,’ but after that, I bounced back really well,” Ritchie mentioned. “Honestly, probably for the next year, I will hate it. Then after that, it will be like a funny, ‘Hey, first pitch of my big league career I gave up a nuke.'”
Ritchie turned the second pitcher over the previous 50 years to permit a house run on his first MLB pitch after which earn a win, becoming a member of Jason Dickson, who allowed the house run to Derek Jeter in 1996 whereas with the Angels.
Ritchie, who was chosen thirty fifth within the 2022 newbie draft, allowed only one extra run over seven innings. He gave up 5 hits, struck out seven and walked two, throwing 54 of 89 pitches for strikes. Ritchie averaged 94.4 mph with 24 fastballs and in addition combined in 25 curves, 19 changeups, 10 sliders, seven cutters and 4 sinkers.
Ritchie (1-0) turned the primary Braves pitcher to permit two runs or fewer over seven-plus innings in his debut since Matt Wisler in 2015.
“Kids got a lot of weapons man, for right- and left-handed hitters,” Braves supervisor Walt Weiss mentioned. “He’s in total control out there. That’s got to shake you up a little bit, first pitch you throw in the big leagues and it gets hit for a homer. But right back on the mound and attacking with all his stuff.”
Ritchie obtained a name from Triple-A Gwinnett supervisor Kanekoa Texeira at 8 p.m. Wednesday to inform him of the promotion, and he arrived in Washington round 2 a.m.
Wood homered on a 93.5 mph fastball down the center, and CJ Abrams went deep on a changeup under the strike zone within the fourth.
Washington didn’t get successful after Daylen Lile’s two-out single within the fourth.
Ritchie began the season at Triple-A Gwinnett and went 3-1 with a 0.99 ERA in 5 begins. Atlanta chosen the contracts of Ritchie and right-hander Carlos Carrasco from the Stripers earlier than the sport, optioned right-hander Didier Fuentes to Gwinnett and positioned left-hander Dylan Dodd on the 15-day injured listing retroactive to Wednesday due to left backbone irritation.
When requested whether or not Ritchie will make one other begin for Atlanta, Weiss mentioned the group will determine within the subsequent day or two.
“The kid did a heck of a job and made a great case for himself,” Weiss mentioned with a smile.
Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used on this report.
