It was a moment he had dreamed about almost his entire life growing up in Cuba. It was one that Yunesky Maya wasn’t sure he would ever see.
But at age 29 – after defecting from his home country last September – Maya was finally ready to take the mound at a big-league stadium for the first time.
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It didn’t go quite according to plan in a 4-1 loss to the New York Mets on Tuesday night at Nationals Park. Nerves and an aggressive opposition combined to undo Maya, who signed with Washington as a free agent in July. The right-hander gave up four early runs and his red-hot offense – the Nats had scored 85 runs in their past 11 games – finally cooled off.
“It is a dream for every player to be up here in the big leagues,” Maya said through translator and teammate Wil Nieves. “I was a little bit nervous in the beginning of the game and in the first inning I left one pitch up and I paid for it. Hopefully next time I can do better.”
The loss in large part was because another pitcher making his major-league debut overshadowed Maya. New York’s Dillon Gee led the International League in strikeouts this season (165) with 28 starts at Triple-A Buffalo despite a 4.96 ERA. He showed he’s better than that ERA indicates by no-hitting Washington through five innings. Willie Harris finally launched a home run to right field to break up the no-hitter and the shutout leading off the sixth. But Gee went seven innings with one run allowed on just two hits.
“Give him credit. He threw strikes and kept guys off balance,” said Harris, who entered in the fifth inning as a defensive replacement one day after leaving a game when he smacked up against the scoreboard trying to make a catch in right field. It was Harris’ eighth home run of the season.
By then the Nats were down 4-1. Ike Davis hit a three-run homer off Maya in the first inning. An RBI single by Gee gave him his first career hit and the Mets a 4-0 lead in the second. Maya settled down from there, however. He retired 11 of the last 12 New York batters he faced, including the final eight, with a walk providing the sole baserunner.
Maya eventually returned to his breaking ball to start hitters with strikes and used that to set up his fastball. In the first inning those breaking pitches were off. It was his first adjustment at the sport’s highest level. Maya will use this final month to prepare for 2011 when he is expected to be a key part of the starting rotation.
“I got a lot of experience from this game,” Maya said. “I will just work hard to keep getting better and then hopefully this will be one of many games I pitch for this team so I can help them this year and next year, too.”
