Top LA prospect roughed up in first Triple-A outing

It didn’t start nearly as well as he would have hoped and it ended earlier than he would have liked, but on Friday afternoon Matt Magill still showed glimpses of why he is one of the top pitching prospects in the Los Angles Dodgers’ organization.

Magill, a 23-year-old right-hander, made his Triple-A debut at Isotopes Park and got plenty of help from his Albuquerque teammates but left with no decision during the Isotopes’ 10-6 win against Iowa.

For the second straight game, Albuquerque used a big rally – this time a sixth-run fifth – to drop the Cubs. In Thursday night’s season opener, it was a seven-run seventh during a 10-3 win.

“There were a little bit of nerves. I was a little bit amped up,” said Magill, who led the Double-A Southern League in strikeouts last year while pitching for Chattanooga. “I need to get used to the ballpark and everything. It’s a combination of everything. Today I didn’t have my best stuff, and you’re going to have those days, and you just have to battle and find your way.”

Magill gave up three hits and two walks to the first seven hitters he faced, but got out of the first after allowing just two runs when right fielder Alex Castellanos fired a strike to catcher Matt Wallach to retire Iowa’s Brad Nelson at the plate. Nelson was trying score from second on a two-out single.

Isotopes shortstop Dee Gordon tags out Iowa’s Edwin Maysonet (33) as he tries to steal second base during the second inning of their game Friday at Isotopes Park. (GREG SORBER/JOURNAL)

“I know I have a great defense behind me, so I know I just need to throw strikes,” said Magill, who is rated as the Dodgers’ ninth best prospect – and second best right-handed pitcher – by Baseball America. “I don’t feel any extra pressure (because of the expectations). I just put pressure on myself. It’s the first game of a long season, so it’s, ‘Just get that out of the way and go from here.’ ”

Nelson hit a solo homer in the third to give Iowa a 3-0 lead, but that was the only other run Magill allowed. Magill yielded five hits, four walks and struck out two in his four innings and left trailing 3-1.

“He struggled some today with his command,” Isotopes manger Lorenzo Bundy said of Magill. “That’s not him. … It might have been some jitters. He pitched in some major league spring training games, and I didn’t see any of this. But you’re allowed to have a bad day, and he could have been a little nervous when it’s the first time out that really, really counts.”

Magill did look powerful in spots after the first inning and got off the hook when the guy who relieved him, Steve Ames, started the big fifth with a single. Dee Gordon followed with a single, Elian Herrera ripped a double down the first-base line and Castellanos added a monster 2-run homer to left that chased Iowa starter Drew Carpenter. Carpenter had retired 10 ‘Topes by ground out before the rally.

The Isotopes hit for a team-cycle in the inning, with Rusty Ryal adding an RBI triple. They had seven hits in the inning, and Ames had another shot at the plate when his game ended.

Ames took a pitch off his left wrist on a foul ball and left the game. As some consolation, he got the win despite just throwing one inning.

The injury was still being evaluated after the game.

The weekday afternoon affair had a small crowd of 3,918 on a cloudy but warm day, and there were only a smattering of folks left by the later innings.

But those on hand got to witness a number of stellar defensive plays, the best coming in the top of the fifth by Gordon. The shortstop, who played nearly all of last season with the Dodgers, made a diving catch of a broken-bat looper to shallow left center with his back to the infield. With one knee on the ground, he fired to first to double up a runner and end an Iowa threat.

“That was just a great play,” Bundy said. “We made some really big plays on defense today. … Offensively, everyone in the lineup had a hit. It was a good day.”

— This article appeared on page D1 of the Albuquerque Journal