CINCINNATI - Left-hander Austin Gomber pitched six 1/3 innings with no hit or run, to become the second pitcher on Tuesday - both in his first MLB starter game - by the St. Louis Cardinals in straight sets against the Cincinnati Reds.
Gomber, who made his first Major League start after 15 relievers with the Cardinals, gave away walks for the first six innings and a third, and tolerated his first hit until the seventh inning when he was given a pair for equalize the match and leave without decision.
In the seventh he took the first out, immediately admitted the first hit to Joey Votto, with a hit to the right field, and the Venezuelan Eugenio Suarez shot homers between left and center field to tie the game 2-2 and send Gomber to the sprinklers .
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Gomber, 24 years old and making his MLB debut on June 2, threw six 1/3 innings on a pair of hits, two bases and six strikeouts, performing 90 pitches, 58 of them strikes.
On Monday, Daniel Poncedeleon made his major league debut with the Cardinals and pitched seven innings without hit or run against the Reds, as he left the game after making 116 pitches.
The feat of Poncedeleon came 14 months after he was in an operating room receiving emergency brain surgery, after being hit by a blow to the right temple in a match in Triple A.
Poncedeleon gave away only three walks and struck out three other batters in his first Major League game, his second call to the majors in the season. In the end he left without a decision, when Rojos turned the game around in the ninth to take the victory by 2-1.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Poncedeleon is the fifth pitcher to pitch without hits in seven innings in his MLB debut, in the Age of Expansion (since 1961).