Faris Tops Chacin, Drillers
04/20/2009
 Tulsa pitcher Jhoulys Chacin, who led all of Minor League Baseball with 18 wins last year, made his much anticipated Drillers Stadium debut Monday night. Chacin did not disappoint, but he was still upstaged by San Antonio right-hander Stephen Faris. Faris tossed six no-hit innings before reaching his pitch limit and turning a 5-run lead over to the Missions bullpen. The Drillers eventually finished with four hits, but the Missions held the lead to claim a 5-1 victory.
Faris, making his third start of the season, was brilliant from the start. He struck out the side in the bottom of the first and retired the first seven Tulsa hitters before Daniel Mayora reached on an error with one out in the third. Faris pitched around the error and retired the next seven hitters until issuing a two-out walk to Michael Paulk in the fifth.
Tulsa second baseman Rex Rundgren made a bid to end the no-hitter when he led off the sixth with a sharp grounder to the left of second baseman Eric Sogard. Sogard made a sliding stop of the grounder, but he threw wide of first and was charged with an error.
Faris avoided trouble by retiring the next three batters to end the inning and his night. In his six no-hit innings, the one walk was the only blemish on his pitching line. He finished with five strikeouts.
Tulsa's first hit did not come until the bottom of the eighth when Paulk singled off Chris Britton leading off the inning. Singles by Cole Garner and Anthony Jackson later in the frame helped account for the Drillers lone run in the game.
Chacin was also effective in his Tulsa debut. He allowed only one run in five innings of work. The run came in the fourth when a two-out single by Craig Cooper with the bases empty prolonged the inning. An errant pickoff attempt and a walk to Mitch Canham put runners at first and second. Seth Johnston produced the big two-out hit with a single to center that plated Cooper with the game's first run.
The Missions added two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh off reliever Xavier Cedeno. Two of the runs were unearned as the Missions benefited from four Tulsa errors in the game.
The loss dropped Chacin's record to 1-2 despite a 2.30 ERA.
The Drillers and Missions will play the rubber game of their three-game series Tuesday afternoon at 12:05PM. Samuel Deduno (1-1, 5.59 ERA) will pitch the finale for Tulsa, while Will Inman (0-0, 6.75 ERA) will take the mound for San Antonio.
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