Liz Fans 13 In Combined No-Hitter
Orioles pitching prospect Radhames Liz struck out 13 Salem batters in five dominant innings, and three Frederick relievers finished out a no-hitter for the Keys in a 3-0 win over the Avalanche Wednesday.
"In my 20 years in the game, I never saw anyone so untouchable," Frederick manager Bien Figueroa said. "You hear about it, you read about it, but until you see it with your own eyes, you don't really believe it. Liz made everyone a believer today."
In his short career, Liz has already built a nice portfolio of big strikeout performances, and he added to it in the Class A Carolinan League matinee. He struck out 13 of the 18 batters he faced, which is short of his career high of 15 in a New York-Penn League game last year.
Liz combined with relievers Russ Petrick (two innings), Jeff Montani (one inning) and Casey Cahill (one inning) to no-hit the Avalanche, though the punchouts tailed off when Liz left the game after the 5th.
To say the 22-year-old Dominican was dominant is an understatement. Just two batters he faced made contact. Avalanche catcher Neil Sellers fouled out to catcher Michael Russell in the third, and in the fifth catcher Jeffrey Mackor grounded out to short--the only ball hit in fair territory against Liz.
"We didn't even have to play defense until the last two innings," Figueroa said. "You don't just see many outings like we saw today."
Liz threw 81 pitches, mixing his sinking fastball with his slider and curveball to keep hitters off balance. He topped out at 95 mph with his fastball and consistently sat in the 91-94 range. His slider was 86-87 and his curveball ranged from 73-75.
"He mixed speeds and his pitches very well," Figueroa said. "He was throwing gas, man. He had good run and sink on his fastball and his slider was probably his second-best pitch. But it was one of those days when everything was working. It was his day."
The Orioles signed Liz out of the Dominican Republic in 2003, and he spent two years in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League before making his domestic debut last season. He dominated in the New York-Penn League, going 5-4, 1.77 for Aberdeen, and ranked fourth in the league with 82 strikeouts even though he pitched just 56 innings there.
Liz opened last season at low Class A Delmarva, going down to
Aberdeen when the NY-P season opened in June. He earned his way back to Delmarva by August and finished 2-3, 4.46 there in 38 innings.
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PrintOrioles pitching prospect Radhames Liz struck out 13 Salem batters in five dominant innings, and three Frederick relievers finished out a no-hitter for the Keys in a 3-0 win over the Avalanche Wednesday.
"In my 20 years in the game, I never saw anyone so untouchable," Frederick manager Bien Figueroa said. "You hear about it, you read about it, but until you see it with your own eyes, you don't really believe it. Liz made everyone a believer today."
In his short career, Liz has already built a nice portfolio of big strikeout performances, and he added to it in the Class A Carolinan League matinee. He struck out 13 of the 18 batters he faced, which is short of his career high of 15 in a New York-Penn League game last year.
Liz combined with relievers Russ Petrick (two innings), Jeff Montani (one inning) and Casey Cahill (one inning) to no-hit the Avalanche, though the punchouts tailed off when Liz left the game after the 5th.
To say the 22-year-old Dominican was dominant is an understatement. Just two batters he faced made contact. Avalanche catcher Neil Sellers fouled out to catcher Michael Russell in the third, and in the fifth catcher Jeffrey Mackor grounded out to short--the only ball hit in fair territory against Liz.
"We didn't even have to play defense until the last two innings," Figueroa said. "You don't just see many outings like we saw today."
Liz threw 81 pitches, mixing his sinking fastball with his slider and curveball to keep hitters off balance. He topped out at 95 mph with his fastball and consistently sat in the 91-94 range. His slider was 86-87 and his curveball ranged from 73-75.
"He mixed speeds and his pitches very well," Figueroa said. "He was throwing gas, man. He had good run and sink on his fastball and his slider was probably his second-best pitch. But it was one of those days when everything was working. It was his day."
The Orioles signed Liz out of the Dominican Republic in 2003, and he spent two years in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League before making his domestic debut last season. He dominated in the New York-Penn League, going 5-4, 1.77 for Aberdeen, and ranked fourth in the league with 82 strikeouts even though he pitched just 56 innings there.
Liz opened last season at low Class A Delmarva, going down to
Aberdeen when the NY-P season opened in June. He earned his way back to Delmarva by August and finished 2-3, 4.46 there in 38 innings.
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