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Jones and Peterson
It was quite the chaotic and memorable day for Pendleton County native Nate Jones as he made his debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 21.
The veteran righthander was called up by the club that signed him last week following his release from the Atlanta Braves and had little time to prepare for his outing as he was notified while in Albuquerque, NM, while still a member of the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate, Oklahoma City Dodgers. Jones was told that he would be flown to California to join the big league club in San Francisco as they took on their arch rival the San Francisco Giants.
According to “The Jones Report” authored by Jack Wright, San Francisco was the final big league ballpark that Jones had not participated in over the course of his major league career. With this milestone now ready to be checked off of a long list of accomplishments, Jones took the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning with one out, one runner on first base and the Dodgers ahead 2-1. Jones recorded a strikeout and a groundout to get out of the inning. He would then be asked the return to the mound in the bottom of the eighth and sent the Giants batters down in order via groundout, strikeout and line out to finish with his fourth hold of the season. The Dodgers held on to win by the score of 2-1.
Jones and his new Dodgers teammates will travel this week to face the Houston Astros before returning home to square off again with the San Francisco Giants. After a bit of a slow start, the Dodgers, who are picked by many to repeat as world champions, are playing as well as any club in the majors over the last few weeks.