R.J. Alvarez has had to stop himself from turning down the wrong hallway this week at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
The San Antonio reliever spent the first three-and-a-half months of the season with the Arkansas Travelers and faced his old team twice in a three-game series that ended Thursday night when he struck out two in the ninth to save a 4-3 victory for the Missions.
The Travs won the series, but Alvarez had two successful outings and had a chance to reacquaint himself with some friends in the process.
"Sometimes, I'm coming in here, I'm catching myself from going that way. I'm like, 'No, I have to go this way,' " Alvarez said of the postgame walk to the visitor's clubhouse, which is right next door to the home clubhouse that he spent so much time in this summer.
Alvarez was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the third round of the 2012 draft and started this season with the Travs, where he had a 0.33 ERA with 38 strikeouts in 27 innings pitched. But Alvarez, former Traveler Taylor Lindsey and two others were traded July 18 to the San Diego Padres in a deal that sent closer Huston Street to the Angels. Alvarez then landed with the Missions, the Travs' Texas League rival.
Alvarez said returning to Dickey-Stephens so soon after the trade made for an odd three days.
"I've gone in that door like 105 times. I'm like, 'This is awkward,' " he said. "But [in the bullpen] I'm talking to them, we threw gum at each other. We're messing around. It was a lot of fun."
Alvarez certainly knew his way to the mound at Dickey-Stephens. With the Missions leading 4-3, he struck out Brian Hernandez, got Mike Bianucci to ground out and struck out Matt Long to end the game.
On Tuesday, he struck out 1 in a perfect eighth of a Travs' victory and in 7 appearances with the Missions he has yet to give up an earned run while striking out 10 in 7 1/3 innings pitched.
He also has two saves while getting an opportunity to close, which he rarely got while pitching in the Travs' deep bullpen.
"It's definitely a positive," he said. "That's where everyone's goal in the bullpen is. That's where my goal was with the Angels, but we had a few guys that were just as good. I didn't have a problem throwing the eighth. Now, I'm throwing the ninth and it's a good feeling."
Alvarez had an opportunity to save Thursday's game when Travs starter Drew Rucinski had an uncharacteristic start. The Texas League All-Star who made his major-league debut wit the Angels last month gave up a run in the first and then three runs on four softly hit singles in the second as the Missions took a 4-3 lead.
Rucinski (10-5), who lost his first game since June 1, recovered after the second and held the Missions to two hits and no runs, striking out 8 while not allowing a walk.
"You're just like, 'Man, it's already going kind of ugly,'" he said of the rough start. "You just have to find it, figure out what you got to do and get through it."
Rucinski and Arkansas Manager Phillip Wellman said his issue was throwing too many strikes when he got ahead of hitters.
"It was very un-Drew Rucinski like," Wellman said. "The last five innings were him. I just had a feeling when we had a 3-1 lead that he was going to take off and run with it. He's got such good command, but he needs to command it out of the zone as well."
Sports on 08/08/2014