Luis DeJesus has been the best starter the Mahoning Valley Scrappers have had all season.  Friday, DeJesus, a converted reliever, threw his best foot forward in a 2-0 win over Vermont.  In earning his fourth win, DeJesus definitely stuck his flag in the dirt to be the starting pitcher on August 14th at the NYPL All-Star Game to be held at Eastwood Field.

DeJesus entered Friday nights game against the Lake Monsters ranked 4th in the NYPL with a 1.64 ERA.  He was masterful throwing 76 pitches, 62 of them for strikes in the win.  DeJesus was perfect through 4-1/3 innings before giving up a single.  The Scrapper hurler completed 7 strong innings, only giving up three hits.  He didn’t walk anyone and struck out six.

Rafael Homblert started the eighth and after recording a quick out, he got into a jam.  Homblert was yanked with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth but Jack Wagoner was able to come in and prevent DeJesus losing another victory after leaving with a lead.

Wagoner struck out Chris Bostick to leave the bags loaded to end the inning.  He would also pitch a scoreless ninth to earn his first career save.

The Scrappers offense scratched out just enough run support to chip in.  Erik Gonzalez walked to start the third inning.  A passed ball and a groundout got Gonzalez to third base with two outs.  Jairo Kelly, who has really been struggling at the plate, came through with a big situational single to right to plate Gonzo.

The Scrappers would tack on an insurance run in the 7th inning.

Mahoning Valley boards the bus and heads to Tri-City for a three-game set before coming home to face Williamsport on August 7th.

Catch the road games on AM-1570 with Tim Pozsgai calling the action.