ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 7, 1996 TAG: 9608070066
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
Chalk it up as another baby step in David Nied's long trek back to the major leagues.
Even though Nied came out on the short end of the Salem Avalanche's 7-4 loss to the Winston-Salem Warthogs on Tuesday night, there were many positives for a guy who, because of a serious elbow injury, has fallen from the big time to the Class A Carolina League in 12 months.
Nied, who pitched the first game in the history of the Colorado Rockies when he faced Dwight Gooden and the New York Mets in 1993, went seven strong innings in his first start at Memorial Stadium, the second time in five days he has pitched seven.
At Frederick against the Keys on Aug.1, he allowed four runs, two earned, on seven hits while striking out seven and walking two in a no-decision. Tuesday, he again allowed four runs, two earned, in a five-hit, eight-strikeout, five-walk performance.
``I'm not a polished pitcher right now, I know that,'' Nied said. ``I wouldn't be here now if I was a polished pitcher.''
For now, though, he says he's happy just to get his innings in Salem's rotation rather than continue to struggle at Class AAA Colorado Springs, where he hadn't pitched past the sixth inning all season.
``I've gotten nearly a fourth or a third as many innings here in two starts than I had gotten all season in Colorado Springs,'' said Nied, who had pitched just 54 innings all year before coming to Salem.
Most of the 3,478 fans had come to see if Nied still has what it takes to pitch in the bigs. At least one guy in the opposing dugout found it hard to root against him.
``I was excited to see him,'' said Winston-Salem manager Phillip Wellman, who was a coach for the Durham Bulls when Nied pitched there in 1991, one year before the Rockies acquired him from the Atlanta Braves with the first pick of the expansion draft.
``This was the first night in my life I hadn't pulled for the guy. Even tonight, I was hoping he would go the full nine and we would beat him 1-0 and his arm would look good.''
For a while, it appeared that Wellman's hopes would be close to being fulfilled. Nied and Winston-Salem starter Brian Lott matched each other pitch for pitch through six innings before Nied (0-1) was undone by two unearned runs in the seventh.
Salem (16-26 in the Carolina League's second half) was leading 3-2 after Blake Barthol's solo home run, his 11th, in the bottom of the sixth. Nied got himself into trouble with two outs by walking Amador Arias and D.C. Conner back-to-back to load the bases, but was nearly saved when third baseman Tal Light made a backhand spear of Marlon Allen's grounder down the line.
Light's throw to first, however, pulled first baseman Nate Holdren off the bag. Holdren and Allen collided, the ball popped free and Arias and Nick Morrow, who opened the inning with a single, scored to make it 4-3.
``About the most disappointing thing was the walks,'' Nied said. ``You get yourself into a jam with walks.''
Until then, Nied basically looked sharp, even though Winston-Salem's first two hits produced runs. In the second, Justin Towle walked, stole second and scored Steve Eddie's chopper up the middle to make it 1-1. In the fifth, Morrow led off with a homer to left to give the Warthogs a 2-1 lead.
Other than that, Nied had allowed two other hits and fanned seven in his first six innings. Never a bona fide power pitcher, Nied's fastball was regularly around 88-89 mph with some movement.
``I think the first three innings, we saw him pitch really well,'' said Salem pitching coach Bill Champion. ``Probably the last three or four innings, we saw a lot of what was going on at Colorado Springs, ... but this is about as far as he's pitched in awhile.''
Lott (7-8) picked up the win by allowing three runs on seven hits through six innings. Paul Runyan and Adam Bryant closed it out, with Bryant gaining his fifth save.
Salem took a 1-0 lead when Garrett Neubart opened the first with a triple and scored on Kyle Houser's sacrifice fly. The Avalanche tied it 2-2 in the fifth when Houser doubled home Neubart, who had singled. Winston-Salem (22-10) added another run in the eighth to make it 5-3 and Salem got as close as 5-4 on an Elvis Pena RBI single in the eighth before the Warthogs got two more off Pat McClinton in the ninth.
By then, Nied was out of the game, but not out of mind.
``I thought he threw a hell of a game,'' said Salem manager Bill McGuire. ``He made the pitch to get out of the seventh, but we didn't execute. Even in the seventh, he was throwing fastballs that made me and Champ look at each other and go `Wow.'''
SNOWBALLS: Holdren's six-game hitting streak ended with his 0-for-4 night. He suffered a hyperextended left elbow on the play in the seventh when he collided with Allen. He stayed in the game and batted once more before coming out in the ninth. Avalanche trainer Bill Borowski said Holdren's elbow was sore and he is listed as day-to-day. ... Winston-Salem shortstop Yuri Sanchez was ejected after arguing a third-strike call with plate umpire Mike Billings in the third inning.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 linesby CNB