The decision between a personal achievement and precautions to protect one's health isn't tough for Joe Mikulik.
So as soon as Richelson Pena gave up a base on balls in the sixth inning Monday night, the Frisco RoughRiders manager hopped the steps of the third-base dugout, walked to the mound, shook Pena's hand, patted him on the back and took the baseball.
"Very easy," Mikulik said. "He took us where he needed to take us, and we couldn't ask for more."
Pena pitched 5 2/3 perfect innings to jumpstart the RoughRiders to a 1-0 victory over the Arkansas Travelers at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock. Even after the walk to Angel Rosa -- which Mikuluk said came on a "borderline" ball four -- Pena was throwing a no-hitter.
But in his first outing of the season -- and a spot start at that -- Mikuluk wasn't letting Pena go any more over his limit of 75 pitches than he already had. Pena, Reed Garrett and Matt Bush combined to hold the Travs to an Andrew Daniel double in the seventh inning while winning their fifth consecutive game to start the season.
Travs Manager Mark Parent credited Pena, who struck out 6 and threw 52 of 79 pitches for strikes, but said his team didn't make it tough for the 22-year-old Dominican.
"We just helped him out," Parent said. "We can't wait for one that's on a tee. We've got to go up there and battle, get aggressive."
Pena isn't slated to be in the RoughRiders' regular rotation. But Jose Leclerc, who will start in this morning's series finale, was suspended five games to start the season. That meant Frisco needed a fifth starter, and Mikuluk turned to a pitcher he hadn't watched much during the spring because he was pitching at different levels.
"I saw him a couple of innings in spring training, but nothing during the season," he said. "That was the first time I saw him, which was pretty impressive."
Pena made his first start Monday after going 10-8 with a 4.76 ERA in 20 starts at Class A High Desert last season. He said he prepared by watching Travs hitters in Sunday's game to pick up tendencies.
"I watched the whole game," Pena said through a translator, "so that I could figure how to pitch to them and just tried to execute. They know how to make adjustments, so all of my pitches had to be on point."
Travelers starter Blayne Weller was almost as good. He struck out 5 over 6 innings and gave up 4 hits, one of which was a sixth-inning home run by Ronald Guzman to right field that traveled 401 feet for the game's only run. Relievers D.J. Johnson, Edward Paredes and Alan Busenitz held Frisco scoreless over the final three innings, but the Travs twice stranded the tying run on second base.
Arkansas' Chad Hinshaw and Eric Aguilera each drew two-out walks from Bush in the ninth. But Bush, who was the first overall draft pick by the San Diego Padres in 2004, got Daniel to ground out to end the game.
The Travs' team batting average dropped to .162, the lowest in the Texas League. Their nine runs scored through five games is seventh of eight teams in the league.
"We're kind of getting caught in between at the plate right now, from an approach standpoint," Parent said. "We're trying to free up their minds, but they're young and they're immature as players. So it's going to take awhile."
Sports on 04/12/2016