Espineli earns promotion to the Majors
7/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
July 20, 2008
FORT WORTH, Texas - Five days after being named to the 2008 USA Baseball roster for the Beijing Olympics, Eugene Espineli earned his first call-up to the major leagues when he was promoted from Triple-A Fresno to San Francisco. Espineli was called up Saturday night and made his big league debut Sunday afternoon. He pitched a perfect eighth inning and tallied one strikeout.
Espineli was flourishing in Triple-A when he was called up. In 34 appearances, he was 1-1 with a 2.06 ERA and one save. The left-hander had struck out 43 batters in 52 1/3 innings pitched with just six walks. He was limiting opponents to a .235 batting average against.
In his big league debut, Espineli struck out Mike Cameron, the first batter he faced, then retired Jason Kendall and Manny Parra.
The promotion to the Giants means that Espineli will be unable to participate in the Olympics. Due to his spot on the Giants' 25-man roster, he will have to be replaced on the Olympic roster.
