We Got Wood - 43.29 - Franco's Debut a Success, Despite Loss

[7teen]

When the final out of the Lumberjacks' game on Friday night with Seattle was recorded, the scoreboard read a 5-1 loss to the Storm. While it counts as a team loss, a lot of the insiders with the team felt like it was anything but. For Friday night was the debut of famed rookie pitcher Francisco Franco. Franco go the loss on his record, but was full of high spirits after the game.

"Wow, what a night" Franco said after the game was over to reporters. "To say I was nervous would be an extreme understatement. Yeah, I've been doing this most of my life, ever since I was 8 year old. But this one was different. This one meant I had achieved my dream of being a big leaguer. I would have loved to see the team grab the win and myself a win as well, but there will be more opportunities for that as we go. I'm glad I got that one under my belt and can just focus on pitching and helping the team win games from here on out."

The former 3rd overall pick went 7 innings against Seattle in the game, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits while not walking a batter. Perhaps the most impressive part of the night were his 8 strikeouts. And perhaps manager Pedro Medina should have done more to preserve Franco's chances in the game. With the game at 2-1 after 7, Medina sent Franco back out for another inning. That inning did Francisco in.

"It's easy to second guess" said Medina after the game. "The kid was throwing a gem and showed no signs of slowing down. He had just retired the side on 11 pitches in the 7th and I felt he could get us maybe one more inning. Clearly it wouldn't have matter either way as we didn't score again."

Franco gave up back to back singles to start off the 8th and was pulled from the game. Both hits eventually scored off reliever Vincente Venalde.

The Trail at Multnomah was packed Friday night to watch the debut of young Franco. The crowd cheered as his first pitch of the night was fouled off and rose to their feet in applause when Franco retired the side in the first on a fly ball and a pair of ground outs. He needed just 7 pitches in the frame. When Alexander Julyan struck out for Seattle to start the 2nd inning, the ball was tossed into the dugout and taken directly to the Portland Lumberjacks Museum of Baseball for fans to see. The roar of the ground in the 6th, when Franco struck out the side (an error by Menzies prevented a perfect inning), was deafening insde the park.

Franco's next scheduled start is this Wednesday against the reigning division champs in Sacramento. It will be Franco's first road start of his career.