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Moeller: Good Pitching Beats Good Hitting

By Jeff Moeller 

JACKSONVILLE (Florida Sports Wire) – A high school manager and friend tell me the same adage every year – “Good pitching will be good hitting.”

Watching baseball, I am always reminded about it.

This past Friday night at 121 Financial Ballpark, the Jumbo Shrimp’s pitching didn’t beat Memphis’ hitting in a 6-3 defeat.

Shrimp starter Emmauel DeJesus looked sharp in the opening inning, but he began to labor with some deep counts in the second. Yet, there wasn’t any movement in the Shrimp’s bullpen.

He struggled again in the third and eventually left in the fourth after 58 pitches. Johna Quezada relieved and walked the first batter, but he worked his way out of the inning.

As for DeJesus, it was his seventh start, and he has a respectable 3-2 record with a 3.82 ERA.

Good pitching beats good hitting.

The Jumbo Shrimp eventually split the six-game series with Memphis, but they dropped the final two games by 5-3 and 10-4 scores. Memphis owned the league’s third-best team ERA.The defeats left Jacksonville with a 30-38 mark to begin the week.

Jeff Lindgren is at the top of the rotation with a 6-2, 4.55 line with 43 strikeouts.Over the past two weeks, Lindgren is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA, and he will need to keep it moving forward.

Past him, there is a dropoff.

DeJesus will need to be steady, but the Jumbo Shrimp will also need to find consistency from Chi Chi Gonzalez, Ronald Bolanos, and Devin Smeltzer.

Ironically, the Jumbo Shrimp are ranked ninth overall in the International League with a team ERA of 5.11, and they are tied for the top spot in complete games (2). The team is hitting .249, which is 19th out of 20 teams.

Go figure.

It will come down to good pitching and good hitting for the Jumbo Shrimp; They currently are only ahead of the Syracuse Mets in the International League’s East Division.

Jacksonville activated righthander Collin Lowe Sunday. He had a cup of coffee with the Marlins last year, and had a 2-1, 3.83 mark in six starts at Single-A Jupiter this year.

Another arm will help. As they also say, you can never have enough pitching.

The Jumbo Shrimp begin a six-game stay at Gwinnett beginning Tuesday before they return home the following Wednesday. Gwinnett is a slot above Jacksonville in team ERA.

It’s almost the end of June, and consistency at any level in today’s game is essential. Jacksonville will need to find a way. They can this week.

Good pitching beats good hitting.

It will be a constant reminder for the Jumbo Shrimp the rest of the way.

(SportsDay Columnist Jeff Moeller writes about baseball, football and other sports for Florida Sports Wire)

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