Right-hander Mark Prior watched two balls sail over the fence Tuesday in his debut at Triple-A Iowa. But Prior didn’t have to turn around to check out the view.
He hit the homers–and both traveled more than 400 feet.
“God opened up a nice wind stream, I guess,” Prior said.
Prior’s pitching was just as impressive. He gave up just three hits and an unearned run over 7 2/3 innings in Iowa’s 6-1 victory over Tucson. He struck out 10 batters, walked two and reluctantly indulged the home crowd with two curtain calls.
“Never done those before,” Prior said. “Everybody kept trying to push me out there.”
Prior struck out seven of the first nine batters he faced and retired the final six.
“He has great stuff,” Kerry Wood said. “But we’ll talk about Mark when he gets here.”
That could be soon. Juan Cruz, who’s 0-5 with a 2.81 ERA, figures to be moved to the bullpen, especially if he fares poorly Wednesday against St. Louis.
So how many more starts will Prior get at Iowa?
“I don’t know if it will be one more, two more,” manager Don Baylor said. “I’m just like you, in the dark on that one. We all know he’s on the fast track.”
