Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports
Houston Astros' Parker Mushinski Tosses Two Innings In Rehab Appearance
Throwing 33 pitches, 22 of them for strikes, Parker Mushinski threw for his longest rehab appearance Saturday. Triple-A Sugar Land tasked the lefty with the eighth and ninth innings which ended in scoreless frames for only the second time during his major league rehab assignment.
"Sometimes the role in the big leagues just calls upon a one inning stint," said Minor League Field Coordinator Jason Bell who is managing the Space Cowboys this weekend. "But in reality, the more that these guys can throw, the better off it is because you just never know.
"Maybe he doesn't go longer. Maybe he needs to go one hitter to close out an inning. Just being able to be versatile for a guy like (Mushinski), especially with our lack of lefties overall, I think is super beneficial to his career and to to our organization."
In his fifth appearance, Mushinski surrendered a first-pitch single off Reno Aces' Jake Hager. On the next pitch, Dominic Miroglio bunted a slow roller back to Mushinski which resulted in a throwing error from the lefty to second base.
Hager and Miroglio advanced to second and third with no outs. Mushinski worked a 2-2 count to the next batter — Camden Duzenack who foul tipped strike three into Scott Manea's glove. From there, the lefty's defense helped stop the pain.
With a 3-2 count, Mushinski pumped an 87.2-mph cutter at the top of zone whereby Yonny Hernandez ripped a 90.8-mph ball to first baseman Enmanuel Valdez. On the move, Valdez fielded and fired home to get Hager for the second out.
Hernandez reached with Miroglio advancing to third before he stole second two pitches later. But Mushinski was unfazed and punched out Dominic Fletcher on three pitches to close the eighth.
What looked to be the night for Mushinski turned into his first two-inning relief appearance of his rehab assignment. The lefty induced a flyout to Stone Garrett and a groundout to Seth Beer for two quick outs before Cooper Hummel and Wilmer Difo slashed back-to-back singles on 0-1 counts.
With two on and two outs, Nick Hernandez began to warm in Sugar Land's bullpen, but he wasn't needed to finish the ninth. Mushinski waved Hager — who faced the lefty at the start of the eighth — on a curveball to end the frame.
Mushinski generated eight swing and misses Saturday which was the third-most of any pitcher in the contest behind the two starters. The lefty worked 16 cutters into his repertoire as opposing hitters whiffed on 33 percent of them.
Pitch usage depends on the opposing order, Bell noted, as the Aces wrote in three switch hitters Saturday. But as Mushinski continues to find his form, Bell praised the resilience and maturity the lefty possessed.
"(Mushinski) is working his tail off to just compete overall," Bell said. "And so I felt like he did a pretty good job of that last night, especially working around runners at second and third, nobody out in a 0-0 game. He executed those pitches really well to help us work out of that jam."
Over his five appearances since the start of his rehab assignment July 6, Mushinski has totaled four innings with five strikeouts and seven earned runs on six hits, two hit batters and six walks.
Houston Astros Prospect J.P. France
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Mushinski relieved J.P. France who threw his most pitch-efficient start of the 2022 season. France took a perfect game into the fifth inning with 14-consecutive retired hitters, but a blooped single from Difo ruined the party.
France ended his night with 92 pitches over seven-scoreless innings. The righty struck out seven batters to the two base runners he allowed — one via the fifth-inning single and the other via a seventh-inning walk.
"(France) had some some pretty good (velocity) last night, too, especially early on," Bell Said. "He got ahead of the hitters well, executed his pitches, caught them off balance and there's some deception there that I think makes it tougher and I think his fastball kind of plays up a little bit that way."
When France was drafted in 2018, Space Cowboys pitching coach Erick Abreu and Bell were both on staff for Class-A Short Season Tri-City — where the righty made his professional debut. Abreu and France built a strong connection there.
"Their chips was established then," Bell said. "And I just really feel like that combo has really helped him get a little bit more polished in each of his areas."
France lives by the strikeout. The 27-year-old is tied for the most punch outs in the Pacific Coast League with no-one other than Hunter Brown and Reno's Ryne Nelson. Both France and Brown are carving through Triple-A lineups — especially as of late – offering more reason to be rotation depth by October or next season.
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