Nick Tropeano, Long Island native, wins first MLB start

Long Island's Nick Tropeano, making his MLB debut, drew speedy Mariners leadoff hitter Austin Jackson for his inaugural assignment. Jackson, a .276 hitter with a .339 on-base percentage in five MLB seasons, is no cakewalk to pitch to, and, if he gets on base, Jackson's tendency to steal second can disrupt even the most seasoned big league arm.

So it was particularly helpful when Tropeano struck out Jackson looking in four pitches.

Tropeano couldn't always find the strike zone on Wednesday night in Seattle, but the Houston righthander did find his way to his first big league win, as the Astros beat the Mariners, 5-2.

Tropeano was born in West Islip, graduated from West Islip High School and was selected by the Astros in the fifth round of the 2011 draft out of Stony Brook University. In other words: The 24 year old's Long Island credentials are legit.

And apparently so are his big league prospects.

On Wednesday, Tropeano pitched five innings, allowing four hits, two walks and two runs (both earned), striking out five. Jackson struck out three times in three at-bats against Tropeano, the latter two strikeouts swinging. Robinson Cano flied out in his first at-bat against Tropeano in the first inning and managed just an infield single in the third inning.

Tropeano's only two runs of the game came in the second. Kyle Seager walked to lead off the bottom of the inning and Brad Miller reached on a one-out infield single. Shortstop Jonathan Villar's throwing error moved the runners to second and third and Mike Zunino doubled to deep left center on a full-count pitch, scoring the pair.

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Tropeano tossed 80 pitches, though only 45 were strikes. Of his 20 batters faced, he threw a first-pitch strike to just nine of them.

Wednesday's debut seemed to be a long-time coming for Tropeano, who had a 3.03 ERA and 0.98 WHIP in 23 games (20 starts) for Houston's Triple-A affiliate, Oklahoma City. He struck out 120 and walked only 33 in 124.2 innings. Tropeano's numbers are all the more impressive considering that Oklahoma City plays in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.