Seriously. We mentioned it in the PreStros Morning Report, but for the love of God, look at the Box Score.
San Antonio - who entered the game one game up on Corpus - got straight dominated by Cruz, who was making his second start for the Hooks after getting called up from Lancaster last week.
So let's set the table. Cruz - the Astros' 9th Round pick out of Academia Santa Monica in Puerto Rico back in 2008 - threw a complete game shutout, allowing two hits, walking one, and striking out 14 batters. 79 of his 109 pitches were for strikes. He retired first ten batters, then gave up back-to-back singles in the 4th, then he got the next three before walking one. He picked him off, and then retired the next 13 batters in a row. So in addition to the CGSHO, he struck out 14 of the 29 batters he faced. The 14Ks tie a franchise record, initially set by Xavier Cedeno.
But let's keep in mind that Cruz has a career-high 10.3 K/9 this season - having struck out 129 batters in 113.1IP in Lancaster. His previous high for strikeouts in a game this season was 9 - at Modesto - and his previous high for strikeouts in a game was 10, on July 29, 2010 for Lexington.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
