Hooks pitcher turns in rain-shortened no-hitter

Bill Richardson had seen the numbers and was eager to see Chris Devenski live for the first time Friday night.

The Arkansas Travelers manager didn't even need a full game to be convinced of Devenski's dominance.

Devenski held the Travs hitless over five innings and Josh Hader pitched a hitless sixth as the two combined for a rain-shortened no-hitter in the Corpus Christi Hooks' 4-0 victory Friday night at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

"What a great performance for that young man," Richardson said. "I got a big scouting report and I saw the numbers, and I was stubborn all the way until I saw the performance."

Richardson said he didn't doubt Devenski's ability -- he improved to 6-0 and lowered his ERA to 0.59 after Friday -- but thought his team would be up to the task.

The Travs, who had won six in a row despite a marginal hitting slump, weren't.

Devenski, a 24-year-old right-hander, issued a two-out walk to Cal Towey in the first before retiring the final 11 batters he faced and exited after throwing 57 pitches over five innings.

Manager Rodney Linares said Devenski was scheduled to pitch only five innings Friday night -- no-hitter or not -- and Hader walked Jared Mitchell to start the sixth and got Drew Maggi to ground out before the rain came and the delay began at about 8:30 p.m.

The game was called about 30 minutes later, cementing the second no-hitter Devenski has been a part of, the first no-hitter in Corpus Christi Hooks history and the fourth at Dickey-Stephens Park.

Devenski, who threw a complete-game no-hitter in 2012 at Class A Lexington and threw 6 1/3 no-hit innings earlier this season against Frisco, said he wasn't particularly pleased with a first inning in which he lacked command of his change-up.

"It wasn't up to my standard," Devenski said. "I came in the dugout and I was angry with myself. I gave myself a look in the mirror and said, 'Hey, get this change-up working.' If it's not working, I'm going to make it work."

It worked fine the rest of the night as he breezed through a Travelers lineup that is hitting .212 through four games of the current homestand.

Devenski entered this season, his fifth in pro baseball, with a 4.85 lifetime ERA. But in nine outings this season he has yet to allow more than one earned run and six times he's held teams scoreless.

Linares credits Devenski's work ethic, which was evident when Devenski began his post-start routine in a hallway outside of the Hooks' clubhouse before the game was called, a regimen that included work with a medicine ball and a jump rope. Devenski even stopped to help the Travs' grounds crew pull a tarp over the home plate dirt before taking cover in the clubhouse.

"That's him," Linares said. "He's probably the hardest-working pitcher I've ever been around. All this success hasn't been for the lack of work. He just busts it, and I'm happy for him tonight."

Against any other pitcher, Richardson might have been able to speak a bit more complimentary of his own starter. Alan Busenitz entered with a 6.63 ERA but gave up a soft single to Tony Kemp to lead off the game. Kemp then stole second base, moved to third on a bunt and scored on a groundout to give the Hooks a 1-0 lead.

In the third Leo Heras singled, stole second base and scored on Kemp's double, and the Hooks scored two in the sixth when Kemp, Teoscar Hernandez and Andrew Aplin singled, the last of which scored Kemp, and Hernandez scored when Conrad Gregor grounded into a double play.

Richardson called it Busenitz' "best outing of the year" but acknowledged it would be a challenge explaining it to his player that way.

"It's hard to get no-hit and tell a young man that he pitched well," Richardson said. "I'm wearing a smile right now, but I'm boiling inside. I wanted to take that no hits off that board."

Sports on 05/30/2015