Erratic Perez takes loss for Bisons
Published: May 26, 2009, 11:03 pm
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Oliver Perez knew Tuesday's outing was important on a variety of levels. First, of course, the $36 million pitcher needed to show his injured knee was strong enough to get through 90 pitches.
Perez also knew that pitching for the Buffalo Bisons was far more vital than throwing an extended spring training game in Florida. The left-hander needed to show he could outduel batters just one step from the major leagues, prove he could get out of jams against a team that wanted to win instead of guys just filling a batter's box in Port St. Lucie.
Perez is going to need more work in Buffalo before taking the next step back to the Big Apple.
Perez, in his first game action since May 2 because of a right patellar tendinitis, was his usual combination of erratic and impressive in the Bisons' 2-1 loss to Lehigh Valley. He threw 88 pitches in 4-1/3 innings in Coca-Cola Field, allowing one run while walking five and striking out five.
The 28-year-old is sure to get more work with the Herd before continuing the first season of his three-year, $36 million contract with the New York Mets.
"I want to get better," said Perez, who took the loss as the Bisons' winning streak was snapped at three games. "I don't want to go upstairs [to the majors] and don't feel better. I have to keep working here and be ready for when they call me up. I want to be ready to go there and show the pitcher that I can be."
Perez had two unimpressive outings in extended spring training this month, and Tuesday's start was on that same track. He tweaked his leg while coming off the mound for a grounder in the first inning, and he pitched gingerly in the second.
It nearly cost him. He issued three walks -- two on four pitches and another to IronPigs hurler Drew Carpenter -- and was faced with a one-out, bases-loaded jam. But he got consecutive strikeouts to get out of the inning with just one run allowed.
"That's the key now, just do stuff to make outs," Perez said. "Every time when I was there, I was like this is more important, this is almost on the major-league level, so I'm happy to be here and continue to get work."
Bisons manager Ken Oberkfell is sure he'll be sending Perez to the mound again before sending him back to the majors.
"He was a little erratic with his command at times, but when he had to make pitches, he made pitches," Oberkfell said. "That was the main thing. He got his work in and kept us in the ballgame."
But the Herd managed just one run against Carpenter (a pinch-hit home run in the eighth by Michel Abreu), though the IronPigs' pitching staff had the benefit of not facing the Bisons' best hitter. Fernando Martinez, the Mets' 20-year-old No. 1 prospect who was on a seven-game hitting streak, got his first call to The Show on Tuesday afternoon. He left in the afternoon and started in right field in Citi Field when the Mets hosted the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night.
Martinez was batting .366 with four home runs, eight RBIs and seven runs scored since May 18, and he was leading the Bisons this season with a .291 average, eight homers and 28 RBIs.
"He's earned it," said Oberkfell, whose team hosts the IronPigs tonight (7:05 p.m., Radio 1520 AM). "He did everything he had to do here. He was our most consistent player, putting up big numbers. Sure, we miss him as a team, but the bottom line is we're here to get him to the big leagues. He did the job."
Martinez went 0 for 3, with an RBI on a fielder's choice, in the 6-1 win.
"Fernando is going to get an opportunity to play," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said in a news conference in New York. "I think it is important that he plays, that he gets an opportunity to get a feel for the major leagues. Once he gets that opportunity, he'll determine the rest of the playing time."
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