Compliments were plentiful in the Pirates’ clubhouse after Mark Prior’s major-league debut, a 7-4 Cubs victory Wednesday night at Wrigley Field.
“He has a good arm and good command, and he threw strikes,” Pittsburgh manager Lloyd McClendon said after Prior’s performance–two earned runs, four hits, two walks and 10 strikeouts in six innings. “He has a nice breaking ball and a lively fastball.”
Second baseman Pokey Reese compared him to Pirates right-hander Kris Benson.
“He has good movement and his fastball explodes at the last minute,” said Reese, who was 1-for-2 with an RBI single against Prior.
Benson, the losing pitcher Thursday, was the first pick in the 1996 draft after three seasons at Clemson. Prior, the second pick in last year’s draft, pitched one year at Vanderbilt and two at USC.
Center fielder Chad Hermansen likened Prior to Cubs teammate Kerry Wood.
“They both throw hard and have that big hammer,” said Hermansen, who greeted Prior with a leadoff single to start Wednesday’s game but struck out in his next at-bat. “I definitely see the resemblance.
“You can tell he has composure. For a 21-year-old, you really don’t find that too often.”
Pittsburgh shortstop Jack Wilson was 0-for-2 with a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout against the right-hander.
“His fastball looks like it jumps out of his hand,” he said. “He’s so smooth in his delivery.”
Left fielder Brian Giles homered, singled and struck out in his three at-bats opposing Prior.
“He has a nice delivery and the ball gets on you pretty fast,” Giles said. “He’s just going to get better. . . . You can certainly see why they’re excited about him.”
The Pirates are likely to be Prior’s opponent when the Cubs open a four-game series in Pittsburgh on Monday.
“We’ll probably have a different game plan than [Wednesday night] now that we know what he has,” Wilson said.
