Porzio paves path to 'bigs'

The former White Sox pitcher hopes to help Cleveland in the near future.
By BRIAN RICHESSON
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
NILES -- For the second straight game, a big-league pitcher graced the mound for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.
One night after Cleveland Indians left-hander Brian Tallet began his comeback from elbow surgery, left-hander Mike Porzio stepped foot onto Eastwood Field and into live game action Thursday for a rare time this season.
"It's exciting to feel like you're getting close to being back where you need to be," said Porzio, who started and pitched three innings in the Scrappers' 5-2 loss to the Auburn Doubledays.
"I'm still not quite where I want to be, but at least I'm close now," Porzio said. "The next thing is to see how I recover [today]."
Joining Cleveland
Porzio, 31, pitched 35 games, including three starts, for the Chicago White Sox over the past two seasons before signing with the Indians in December.
In spring training, however, he began to feel pain in his throwing shoulder and remained in Winter Haven, Fla., for the Indians' extended spring program.
"I had some inflammation and some other pains that just kept getting reaggravated," Porzio said. "Right now I'm as healthy as I've been."
Porzio is unfamiliar to Class A short-season ball, but it's where he plans to find his rhythm, his health and a path to Cleveland.
"It's hard when you see that Cleveland's having some trouble," said Porzio, when asked whether it's difficult to avoid rushing back. "You want to be back, but it hasn't worked out too well."
Porzio blanked Auburn on two hits while striking out three before being relieved by Justin Pekarek (0-1), Kyle Collins and Hector Santana.
"I didn't set my sights too high today," Porzio said. "I primarily wanted to get through the three innings. I wasn't sharp with certain pitches, but that's to be expected."
Scrappers manager Mike Sarbaugh spent extended spring training watching Porzio recover.
"He's got good stuff, and he looked like he had his stuff tonight," the manager said. "If he can fight through this, he has something to offer."
Porzio will remain at Mahoning Valley for a couple of weeks before continuing his comeback elsewhere.
"I'm about two weeks away from looking pretty sharp," he said. "From there, my opportunity to go to Cleveland will depend on when they think I'm sharp, not when I think I'm sharp."
Slumping
The Scrappers (5-9) didn't fare quite as well as Porzio, suffering their fourth straight loss and sixth in a row against Pinckney Division leader Auburn (11-3).
Three Auburn pitchers kept Mahoning Valley in check, holding Scrappers batters to seven singles and no big innings.
"We're going through a little stretch here where we just can't find that big inning," Sarbaugh said. "It seems like we're getting seven, eight hits a night, but we're spreading them out and they're not calculating into runs."
AUBURNMAHONING VALLEY
abrhbiabrhbi
Mathews cf5012Reyes dh4010
Klosterman ss4000Finegan ss4000
Esposito 3b5000Gimenez 3b4110
Hall 2b 5120Butia lf4010
Lind dh4120Montgmry cf3000
Kratz c4110Toregas c4021
Cannon 1b3000Clem 2b4110
Neilsen rf/lf4222Encarnacion rf3010
Metropoulos lf2010Pacheco 1b3001
Velez ph0001
Mangioni rf0000
Totals36595Totals33272
Auburn000010310--5
Mahoning Valley001000001--2
DP--Auburn 1. LOB--Auburn 8, Mahoning Valley 5. HR--Nielsen. 2B--Nielsen, Mathews.
IPHRERBBSO
Auburn
Perez W, 1-0641112
McLaughlin210003
Day121101
Mahoning Valley
Porzio320003
Pekarek L, 0-1454422
Collins121123
Santana100000
WP--Collins, McLaughlin. PB--Kratz. Umpires--Home, Adam Moscaritolo; Bases, Grant Menke. T--2:36. A--4,099.
HOW THEY SCORED
THIRD INNING
MAHONING VALLEY 1, AUBURN 0
Scrappers: Juan Perez pitching. Chris Clem singled to left, Teo Encarnacion singled to left, Clem to third. Fernando Pacheco grounded out to third, Clem scored, Encarnacion to second. Argenis Reyes grounded out to first, Encarnacion to third. Brian Finegan grounded out to third. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 left.
FIFTH INNING
MAHONING VALLEY 1, AUBURN 1
Doubledays: Justin Pekarek pitching. Erik Kratz flied out to center. Chip Cannon struck out. Eric Neilsen homered over the left-field wall. Joe Metropoulos grounded out to short. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left.
SEVENTH INNING
AUBURN 4, MAHONING VALLEY 1
Doubledays: Pekarek pitching. Brian Hall grounded out to third. Adam Lind singled to right, Kratz singled to right, Lind to second. Cannon flied out to left. Nielsen doubled to left, Lind scored, Kratz to third. Metropoulos walked to load the bases. Aaron Mathews doubled to left, Kratz, Nielsen scored, Metropoulos to third. Ryan Klosterman walked intentionally to load the bases. Vincent Esposito grounded out to first. 3 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 3 left.
EIGHTH INNING
AUBURN 5, MAHONING VALLEY 1
Doubledays: Kyle Collins pitching. Hall singled to left, Lind singled to right. Hall to third, Lind to second on a wild pitch. Kratz struck out. Cannon walked intentionally to load the bases. Neilsen struck out. Pinch hitter Eugenio Velez walked, Hall scored. Mathews struck out. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 3 left.
NINTH INNING
AUBURN 5, MAHONING VALLEY 2
Scrappers: Dewon Day pitching. Chris Gimenez singled to right, Mike Butia grounded out to third, Gimenez to second. Tim Montgomery struck out. Wyatt Toregas singled to right, Gimenez scored. Clem flied out to the catcher. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 left.
richesson@vindy.com