Pitchers’ velocities are now being posted on the Hi Corbett Field scoreboard. For some, it reveals their power. For Garrett Irvin, it’s his artistry.
Irvin’s fastball sat in the 88- to 89-mph range Saturday night. That’s typical for the Arizona left-hander.
Irvin baffled UCLA with a mid-70s curveball. The Bruins seldom made hard contact against him.
Irvin allowed only one run in 7 2/3 sparkling innings as No. 12 Arizona defeated UCLA 4-2 in front of an announced crowd of 3,890. The Wildcats (17-6, 6-2 Pac-12) evened the best-of-three series after dropping the opener 10-2 Friday night. The rubber match is scheduled for noon Sunday.
“Everyone's very much aware,” Irvin said of the radar readings on the scoreboard. “Especially the pitchers. Everyone knows that's up there.
“I honestly try not to look at it. You’ve got guys like Johnny (Guardado) and ... (Josh) Randall and TJ (Nichols). I'm sure if I were them, I would love to look behind and see a 98, 97. I try to keep my head down and keep confidence in my pitches.”
Irvin allowed only three hits. He walked three and struck out six. The outing was his longest of the season and improved his season record to 3-1. Irvin’s career mark is 13-5.
“He’ll hit 90 every now and then. But it doesn’t matter,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “He's a PITCHER. He's a true pitcher.”
Irvin appeared to be trending toward something historic Saturday; he did not allow a baserunner through 4 2/3 innings.
Jake Palmer notched UCLA’s first hit, beating Arizona’s shift by grounding a single past Garen Caulfield, the only infielder on the left side. Irvin retired the next batter, Malakhi Knight, via a strikeout.
Irvin walked JonJon Vaughns to lead off the sixth, then threw high to first after fielding a bunt to put runners on first and second. Irvin retired the next three batters with minimal difficulty — a popout to shortstop, a strikeout looking and a flyball that Mac Bingham ran down in the left-center gap.
UCLA (14-8, 2-3) again put the first two runners on in the seventh. One was erased via a 6-3 double play. After issuing a walk, Irvin struck out Vaughns with a 2-2 curveball.
Arizona took a 4-1 lead into the ninth, at which point Hale summoned closer Holden Christian. Christian entered with a 2.89 ERA but had one blowup in the Pac-12 opener against Cal. This outing was almost a repeat of that one.
Christian walked the first two batters he faced — losing leadoff hitter Carson Yates on a pitch thrown several feet behind him. A single loaded the bases, and a sacrifice fly made it 4-2.
Arizona had Quinn Flanagan up and ready by then. Christian struck out Darius Perry with a curveball. With an 0-1 count against Cody Schrier — who had hit a grand slam Friday night — Christian threw another wild pitch that sailed behind the batter, putting the tying run at second base.
Schrier then hit a roller up the third-base line. Caulfield charged it and nipped Schrier at first to end the game.
“That's how closers are,” Hale said. “There's not many closers, even in the major leagues, that you’re not on that top step for. They’ve got really, really good stuff, but it can be a little bit wild.”
Hale wanted his team to start better, and the Wildcats delivered on that front. After a 1-2-3 top of the first inning from Irvin, Arizona scored three runs in the bottom half.
Bingham delivered the key blow, a bases-loaded, two-RBI bloop single to center on an 0-2 pitch. Bingham has been on a tear after slumping to begin the season. The veteran center fielder was batting .196 on March 6. He’s now hitting .292.
Noah Turley followed with an RBI single to left. All three runs were unearned because of an earlier UCLA error.
Arizona made it 4-0 in the third on Tony Bullard’s single up the middle. It was just the second RBI of the season for Bullard, who missed the first 10 games because of a shoulder injury and remains limited to DH duty. Hale said Bullard could play third base next weekend at Washington.
Inside pitch
- Bullard went 2 for 4, his first multihit game of the season. He has hit safely in four of his past five contests.
- UA catcher Daniel Susac went 3 for 5 and is 7 for 10 in the series. He has two or more hits in four of his past five and is batting .423.
- The scheduled starters for Sunday’s series finale are right-hander Thatcher Hurd (1-0, 0.98 ERA) for UCLA and righty Dawson Netz (2-0, 4.24) for Arizona.
