Vince Velasquez leads Phillies to first Win

Vince Velasquez #28 of the Philadelphia Phillies delivers a pitch against the New York Mets during the second inning of a game at Citi Field on April 9, 2016 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (April 9, 2016 - Source: Rich Schultz/Getty Images North America)

SP Vince Velasquez made his debut for the Philadelphia Phillies as they won at the New York Mets 1-0.

The 23-year old pitched 6 scoreless innings and allowed only 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out a career-high 9. His fastballs were clocked at 92-95 mph.

The right-hander was acquired in an offseason deal with the Houston Astros, where he had 7 starts and 12 relief appearances as a rookie last season. In 55.2 innings he allowed 50 hits, 27 earned runs, 21 walks and struck out 58 for a 4.37 ERA and 1.28 WHIP.

It took Velasquez 26 pitches to get out of the first inning but he looked more and more confident as the game went on. He threw a total of 99 pitches last night.

1B Ryan Howard hit a single home run in the fifth inning and CL Jeanmar Gomez pitched a hitless ninth inning for the save to seal Philadelphia’s first win this season.