Caughel spins three-hitter for Arkansas

Coming out of his pregame bullpen session, Lindsey Caughel told teammates his Wednesday start may result in a quick game. He was exactly right -- just not the way he originally thought.
"So I walked out on my pregame bullpen because it was the worst pregame bullpen I've ever thrown," the Mariners righty said matter-of-factly after one of the best games of his career. "I spiked a fastball and I just walked out of my bullpen, and actually I told two different people on the bench, 'This might be a short game.'"
Caughel (10-10) sped through his first shutout since 2012 in exactly two hours, allowing just three hits and striking out a pair without a walk over nine innings as Double-A Arkansas beat Springfield, 3-0.

The pregame work did not portend a good night, but once the righty started in against live hitters, something clicked.

"I was locating my fastball down well today, keeping it on the outside part of the plate. I was able to induce a lot of ground-ball outs because of it," Caughel said. "In the third or fourth inning, when I was really noticing that I was having a lot of success with locating my fastball and was getting a lot of quick outs, [I knew] it could be one of those days where I could go deep into the ballgame."
Springfield's Oscar Mercado -- the No. 18 Cardinals prospect -- singled to right field to lead off the first inning for the Cardinals, but was caught trying to steal second by Arkansas catcher Tyler Marlette, the Mariners' 25th-ranked prospect. Caughel followed with 17 straight outs, his confidence building with each frame.
Gameday box score
"When you go out there and get quick outs, it definitely carries over to the next inning," he said. "Earlier in my career, when I was younger, I used to look ahead toward the end results, but I was able to pitch nine innings today. There wasn't one time when I was on the bench thinking about any inning other than the inning that was ahead of me."
Mercado snapped the roll with a leadoff single in the seventh, but after he was retired on a fielder's choice off the bat of sixth-ranked St. Louis prospect Magneuris Sierra, Caughel kept his streak of facing the minimum alive by picking Sierra off first. No. 28 prospect Andrew Knizner was the only extra batter he faced after a two-out single in the eighth.
Heading to the ninth, Caughel knew things would go his way almost immediately.
"Every pitcher is aware of the situation no matter what situation you're in," he said. "I forget what the count was to the leadoff hitter (Eliezer Álvarez), but I think I went 3-1 and threw a fastball down and away. It should've been a double. Right off the bat, I was expecting to receive the baseball and there to be a guy on second base, but [third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean] robbed that hit, and that was the moment where it was just like, 'This is happening.' [Mejias-Brean] is without a doubt one of -- if not the -- best that's ever played behind me."

Caughel breezed through his final two batters, finishing his night in just 83 pitches, 58 for strikes. The shutout marked his first since Sept. 2, 2012 with Rookie-level Ogden against Orem, and the complete game was his second of the year, matching a seven-inning feat on May 4 against Tulsa.
The win was the latest positive step in Caughel's return to affiliated ball. A 23rd-round selection by the Dodgers in 2012, the Stetson University product underwent shoulder surgery three years later and was released by Los Angeles in 2016. A subsequent odyssey led him through an independent league and to the Venezuelan Winter League last year before the Mariners landed him with a contract in November.
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"Every single day was the only day that mattered in Indy ball," he said. "You were playing to win again, and I had this great feeling about it because I knew I was going to play Indy ball for one season and one season only. I had my college degree. I graduated in four years. I put in all this hard work after surgery, and I didn't get to pitch [in affiliated ball] after surgery, so I didn't want all that hard work to be in vain.
"It was back to playing baseball for the love of the game again."
Days like Wednesday are easy to love.