ARLINGTON, Texas — A.J. Alexy, a Twin Valley grad, won his major league debut by pitching one-hit ball through five shutout innings while DJ Peters, Leody Taveras and Nick Solak homered in consecutive innings as the Texas Rangers hung on to beat the Colorado Rockies 4-3 on Monday.
Alexy (1-0) allowed only a second-inning double to C.J. Cron. The 23-year-old right-hander, who was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock earlier in the day, struck out four and walked three throwing 81 pitches. Alexy helped himself in the fifth following a leadoff walk to Raimel Tapia by picking him off first base for the second out.
Trevor Story hit a solo homer in the seventh inning and a two-run shot in the eighth for Colorado.
Joe Barlow pitched a perfect ninth inning for his third save in three opportunities.
Texas has won two straight games for the first since a three-game winning streak July 31-Aug. 2.
The only other pitcher in Rangers history to allow only one hit and go at least five innings in his debut was Roger Pavlik, who limited the Chicago White Sox to one hit in six innings on May 2, 1992.
Peters’ homer down the left-field line in the fourth inning was his eighth since joining Texas on Aug. 3 off a waiver claim from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Taveras hit his first homer of the season in the fifth. He went into play in an 0-for-31 slump with an .062 batting average and preceded the homer with a double.
Solak hit a two-run homer in the sixth.
German Marquez (11-10) gave up all four runs on seven hits in six innings.
The Rockies dropped to 17-49 in away games, one-half game ahead of Texas’ major-league worst road record (16-49).
Alexy’s performance came three days after right-hander Glenn Otto held Houston to two hits in five shutout innings in his major league debut. According to STATS, inc., the Rangers are the first big-league team since 1900 to have first-timers allow two or fewer hits and go at least five innings within a span of four games.
With starters Dane Dunning and Mike Foltynewicz among seven Rangers currently on the COVID list, Alexy, Otto and lefty Jake Latz made their debuts in the team’s last six games.
Alexy is the first Berks high school game to earn a major league win since Brandywine Heights’ Wade Miller, pitching for the Boston Red Sox, beat the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 3, 2005.
Alexy, a 6-4, 195-pound right-hander, was added to the Rangers’ 40-man roster last winter. He had a 1.66 ERA this year with 76 strikeouts and 27 walks in 65 innings at Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock.
The Los Angeles Dodgers drafted Alexy in the 11th round in 2016 two hours before he graduated from Twin Valley. Texas acquired him at the July 2017 trade deadline along with Willie Calhoun and Brendan Davis in exchange for Yu Darvish.
Alexy went 6-8 with a 3.58 ERA in 2018 at Single-A Hickory in the South Atlantic League before he missed a large part of 2019 with an injury. He did not pitch last season with the minor league season being canceled due to the pandemic.
Alexy has a 13-19 minor league record in his career and a 3.30 ERA with 362 strikeouts and 147 walks in 300.1 innings.
This year, he went 3-1 with a 1.61 ERA in 13 games, including seven starts, at Frisco with 57 strikeouts and 20 walks in 50.1 innings. At Round Rock, he has no decisions and a 1.84 ERA in three starts with 19 strikeouts and six walks in 14.2 innings.
At Twin Valley, Alexy was a two-time All-Berks selection and the 2016 Berks League Player of the Year. Playing for coach Chad Walters, he led the Raiders to a 38-12 record in his last two seasons.
He went 6-1 in 2016 with a 1.24 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 48.2 innings, leading Twin Valley to the Berks II title, the Berks semifinals and the District 3 Class 3A quarterfinals.
As a junior in 2015, he was 6-3 with a 1.27 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 55.1 innings as the Raiders finished third in the District 3 Class 3A playoffs and reached the PIAA quarterfinals.
Source: Berkshire mont
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