Jemiola impresses in Cal League debut, but picks up loss as Ports top Nuts

Zach Jemiola hasn’t been a professional baseball player very long, but he’s been at it long enough to realize he’ll likely enjoy pitching at spacious John Thurman Field.

The Colorado Rockies ninth-round selection in the 2012 MLB draft was promoted from Low-A Asheville (N.C.) and made his first California League start on Thursday, pitching five solid innings before running into trouble in the sixth and taking the loss in a 5-3 setback to the Stockton Ports.

Final result aside, the Southern California native looked comfortable in his new digs.

“Grand Junction (Colo.) was a real hitters’ park and McCormick Field (Asheville) was tiny and the balls flew out of there,” Jemiola said of his stints in the Pioneer and South Atlantic leagues, respectively. “It’ll be nice to pitch in a park like this one.”

Jemiola, who flew in from the East Coast on Tuesday, was 5-3 for the Tourists with a 3.32 ERA. His best outing of the season came on May 9, when he shut out Lakewood (N.J.) 3-0, allowing just six hits and walking none while fanning nine.

To make room for him on the roster, Grahamm Wiest was reassigned to Asheville.

“For the first five innings he had it going,” said Nuts manager Fred Ocasio, whose team remained eight games back of North Division leader Visalia, which lost 5-2 to last-place Bakersfield. “He kept them off balance and was throwing real well.”

Jemiola didn’t surrender a hit until the fourth and threw up zeroes through five.

In the sixth, he ran into trouble, mainly of his own doing.

“I tried to do a little too much,” Jemiola said. “I tried to be too fine when I fell behind instead of attacking the zone like I did in prior innings.”

After giving up a single to start the sixth, Jemiola then issued back-to-back walks to load the bases. Branden Cogswell this hit a ball that skipped off the glove of fist baseman Correlle Prime, allowing two runs to score. When right fielder Jordan Peterson overran the ball, a third run crossed the plate.

Jemiola retired the next two hitters he faced but a triple by Brett Vertigan made it a 4-1 game and chased the 6-foot-3, 200-pound right-hander.

Offensively for the Nuts, center fielder Rosell Herrera was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored. He was the only Modesto player with multiple hits. More important, both hits came off righties, who had held the 6-3, 195-pounder to a .211 average entering Thursday’s game. Against lefties, Herrera is raking to the tune of .341.

The loss halted the Nuts’ three-game winning streak.

This story was originally published June 5, 2015 at 1:02 AM with the headline "Jemiola impresses in Cal League debut, but picks up loss as Ports top Nuts."