Mesa Goes the Distance and Then Some : Ezell Lets His Pitcher Work Overtime in Gulls’ Shutout of Visalia

Bending policy, Ventura County Gulls Manager Glenn Ezell allowed Jose Mesa to throw more than 100 pitches Saturday. Mesa responded by using his big bender to baffle the Visalia Oaks and give the Gulls a 7-0 win at Ventura College.

Thanks to Mesa’s 110-pitch complete game, Ventura County may be turning the corner in the California League standings. The Gulls have followed a nine-game losing streak with three straight wins and are 12-20 in the season’s second half. The Gulls are in fourth place, 7 1/2 games behind the first-place Oaks.

Mesa, a 21-year-old Dominican who is in his fifth professional season, allowed seven singles and two walks to record his second and the team’s seventh complete game of the season. The right-hander mixed a sharp-breaking curve with an 87-mph fastball to strike out seven and induce three double plays.

Ezell was fully aware that Mesa had thrown 96 pitches when the pitcher trotted to the mound to begin the ninth inning. For his part, Mesa avoided eye contact with the manager.

“He wasn’t saying anything, so I ran to the mound,” Mesa said. “I wanted the shutout.”

Visalia’s Gary Borg led off the ninth with a single, but Tom Schwarz grounded to third baseman Jim Bishop, who started a double play. Mesa (10-6) struck out Eddie Yanes to end the game.

“That was probably the last pitch I was going to let him make,” Ezell said. “We rarely let a pitcher go over the limit, but it was a boost for Jose and the bullpen got a day’s rest.”

The pitch limit is imposed on all teams in the Toronto Blue Jays organization.

The Minnesota Twins, parent club of the Oaks, may have a similar limit, but starting pitcher Bryan Hickerson (2-2) didn’t stick around long enough to find out. The left-hander, who came into the game with a 1.86 earned-run average in four starts, was rocked for five runs and eight hits in 2 innings.

Bishop followed Greg Myers’ single with a line-drive home run to right field in the second. Four straight Gull hits in the third added three more runs. Myers and Luis Reyna, the only left-handed hitters in the Gull lineup, were each 2 for 2 against Hickerson. Myers doubled home two runs in the third before leaving the game with a bruised thumb.

A run-scoring triple by Eric Yelding and sacrifice fly by Reyna in the sixth completed the scoring.