A.J. Puk Earns Victory As Team USA No-Hits Cuba, Buddy Reed Collects RBI
Thursday, July 2, 2015 | Baseball
CARY, N.C. - Tanner Houck (Missouri), A.J. Puk (Florida) and Ryan Hendrix (Texas A&M) combined to hand the Cuban National Team its first ever no-hitter in international play, allowing only a walk and error, in a 2-0 win for the USA Collegiate National Team, on a perfect Wednesday night at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
For the third time in USA Baseball Collegiate National Team history, the Americans posted a no-hitter. It marked Team USA's first no-hitter since Carson Fulmer, Tyler Jay, Dillon Tate and Ryan Burr combined to no-hit the Netherlands in 2014. Team USA also no-hit Korea in 2010, a combined effort from Sonny Gray, Kyle Winkler and Noe Ramirez, for the first no-hitter in National Training Complex history.
“They pitched tremendously,” Team USA manager Ed Blankmeyer (St. John's) said. “They located well, they were confident and we defended well. I was bowled over when I talked to the Cuban press and they told me that was the first time Cuba had ever been no-hit in international play. That is pretty special. And that was pretty dominant, there were no close ones. Maybe two balls were really hit hard the entire game. We showed something very special tonight.”
The combination of Houck, Puk and Hendrix, along with catcher Chris Okey (Clemson) and pitching coach Gary Henderson (Kentucky), held the Cubans at bay for nine innings, surrendering just one walk and a one-out error.
Houck worked four pre-determined, perfect innings, not allowing a baserunner and retiring all 12 hitters he faced. Houck, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound right-hander, started nine of 12 hitters with first-pitch strikes, collecting four first-pitch outs. Houck threw 40 pitches, with 28 going for strikes. In three outings with Team USA, Houck has a 2.13 ERA in 12.2 innings, fanning 11 and walking just one.
“Our plan was to just get out and attack the zone against these hitters,” Houck said. “We talked about it before that they were going to be aggressive early in the counts. We just wanted to attack the zone early, get ahead of these guys, and they made some early contact”
Puk (1-0) started the fifth inning in a scoreless game. A 6-foot-7, 225-pounder, Puk tossed four innings, allowing only a leadoff walk and a one-out error. He threw 50 pitches, with 31 going for strikes, and seven of 14 hitters getting first-pitch strikes.
Team USA (7-4) called on Hendrix in the ninth inning to protect a two-run lead and clinch the historic no-hitter. Hendrix came on to face 9-1-2 in the Cuba order, getting three groundouts, two to third baseman Bobby Dalbec (Arizona) to complete the no-hitter.
The three pitchers combined to throw only 99 pitches, with 35 going as balls. A runner reached scoring position only in the seventh inning after a leadoff walk and a sacrifice bunt, with groundouts up the middle, forced by Puk, ending the threat with the tying run on third base.
“Tanner Houck was really good,” Team USA pitching coach Gary Henderson (Kentucky) said. “He got it started for us. The bottom was dropping out of the two-seam. He got the slider over in the third and fourth innings when we rolled the lineup over. Really impressive. In control of his the entire night. Only threw 40 pitches over four innings and then A.J. came in, wasn't as sharp early – probably a little over pumped – and really found it in the last three innings. They were sharp and he was good. Mixed his pitches well and stayed aggressive. Held on to his delivery. Really impressive night for A.J. The obviously, Ryan, in the ninth inning was outstanding.”
Team USA started the scoring with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning on a key RBI hit from Matt Thaiss (Virginia), with the base-running of Corey Ray (Louisville) leading to a run in the eighth inning for a two-run cushion.
Second baseman Bryson Brigman (San Diego) led the way with a 2-for-3 game. Team USA also got hits from Ray, Buddy Reed (Florida), Thaiss, Okey, KJ Harrison (Oregon State) and Nick Banks (Texas A&M). Shortstop Ryan Howard (Missouri) added a walk.
The win snaps a five-game winning streak for Cuba vs. the USA Collegiate National Team and marked the first win for Team USA in America vs. the Cubans since sweeping Cuba in a five-game series in 2013, the first games played between the two nation's on American soil since 1996.
“It is huge,” Okey said on the opening win, after his Team was swept in 2014. “It is nice to break the ice if you will. Last year we had a hard time getting it going in that environment. To come out here on American soil, get a W, let alone a no-hitter, in the first game. They are a very talented team. Tomorrow is a new day so we have to come out and be ready to fire.”
