SEATTLE — For the first time since 1915, a Kinston native has earned a Major League Baseball pitching victory.
Carter Capps, a North Lenoir High School and Mount Olive College alum, pitched two shutout innings for Seattle against the Detroit Tigers Thursday afternoon to lead the Mariners to a 2-0 victory.
Capps, the fifth Kinstonian to play in the major leagues, gave up two hits and a walk while striking out three to earn the win and to improve to 1-1 in 2013. He made his MLB debut last season for the Mariners.
“It was a good day and I’m excited,” Capps said in his post-game interview with the Seattle Mariners Radio Network. “We’ve got guys (here) who can throw it like nobody’s business. … The defense was behind us and the guys executed.”
The last time a Kinston native earned a MLB victory was in 1915, when George Suggs, then a pitcher for the Baltimore of the Federal League, finished 11-17 for the Terrapins.
Since Suggs’ tenure in MLB (Detroit Tigers, 1908-09; Cincinnati Reds, 1910-13; Terrapins 1914-15), there have been three other Kinston natives play in the major leagues other than Capps: Charlie White, a catcher for the Milwaukee Braves from 1954-55; Jason Roach, a pitcher for the New York Mets in 2003; and Chris Hatcher, a catcher/pitcher for the Florida/Miami Marlins from 2010 to present. Hatcher is presently playing in Triple-A New Orleans.
Seattle and Detroit played Thursday’s series finale about 13 hours after the Tigers’ 2-1 victory in 14 innings in a game that had a combined 40 strikeouts and had Justin Smoak tagged out at home in a collision with catcher Brayan Pena for the final out.
Detroit’s Justin Verlander (2-2), who threw 126 pitches in seven innings, gave up a two-out single to Robert Andino. Kyle Seager then hit the first pitch into the left-field corner. Andino raced around from first.
Endy Chavez followed with a single to left, scoring Seager. Tiger catcher Alex Avila caught the throw from left-fielder Andy Dirks, but did not position himself in front of the plate to block Seager’s slide. He slid under the tag.
Verlander struck out 12 — two short of his career high — and gave up nine hits, two runs and walked one.
Tom Wilhelmsen earned his sixth save.
Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma continued his strong start. He matched up well with Verlander until he developed a blister in the middle finger of his right hand, forcing him to leave after just six innings and 70 pitches. He allowed three hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
The only Tiger to reach second was Victor Martinez in the fifth. He singled, advanced to second on Jhonny Peralta‘s ground out and was left stranded.
The Mariners struck out 12 times on Thursday, one game after they set a club record with 21 strikeouts on Wednesday.
Free Press Managing Editor Bryan C. Hanks contributed to this report.