We had the opportunity to see Jason Schmidt pitch his rehab start tonight at San Bernardino. It was also Armed Forces Night, so there was a Dodger Camo Hat giveaway and several flybys from a Blackhawk helicopter. It also hovered over the outfield during “God Bless America” and the National Anthem, sending the warning track up in great boiling dust clouds and rendering the music, well, moot with the noise.
Still, a cool moment. As was seeing Jason Schmidt walking out to the mound, wearing #7 on his 66ers uniform. He got a nice round of applause as he was announced.
It was hot in San Berdoo, with a high over 100, which I imagine didn’t make the job any easier. Schmidt looked like he was doing pretty darn well, apart from a brief moment in the 2nd when either Schmidt was having trouble finding the strike zone, or the ump was.
He went 2.1 innings, giving up only one single and one walk, with no runs, three Ks, three flyouts, and one groundout on a difficult comebacker that hit him pretty hard in the 1st inning.
He had to spin around for a moment to find the ball, but still managed to throw the man out at first. Schmidt didn’t seem to be any worse for wear after the ball hit him, or at least he wasn’t letting on if it was. As he walked off, Eduardo Perez looked like he was asking him how he was, and Schmidt nodded and waved his glove as if to say “No problem.”
We left after the Lake Elsinore Storm put up six runs in the 4th, but according to the box score, the 66ers managed to pull out an 8-7 victory in the bottom of the 9th.