ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After every outing, Yonny Chirinos makes sure to thank God for the opportunity to take the mound. His faith has carried him ever since he was a child in his hometown of Bachaquero in Venezuela, and it carried him as he picked up his first big-league win in the Rays’ 5-4 win over the Orioles Thursday night.
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“The truth is the glory goes to God because he’s the one that has given me the strength,” Chirinos said following his first career win. “Thanks to him I was able to get my first win and I know there are many more coming.”
It’s been a long road for Chirinos to get to this point. He wasn’t a highly-touted international prospect coming out of Venezuela, but was able to sign with the Rays for $100,000 when he was 18 years old. As has always been the case, Chirinos maintained his faith and continued to improve as he climbed through the Rays system. Last season, between his stops at Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham, Chirinos had a combined record of 13-5 with a 2.73 ERA en route to being named the 2017 minor league pitcher of the year by the Rays organization.
This season, Chirinos made the Opening Day roster after a strong spring and carried it over by starting off his major-league career with 14.1 scoreless innings. He then began to struggle, giving up 11 earned runs in his next 12.1 innings pitched before being sidelined with a right forearm strain. After his rehab assignments, Chirinos was sent back down to Durham.
Even with the fact that he was back in the minor leagues, Chirinos maintained his faith.
On Thursday, with the Rays down 3-0 in the third inning, Chirinos said he was just focused on giving his team some length and keeping them in the game for as long as he could. He did just that as he allowed just one run over five innings and gave the Rays a chance to come back, and ultimately take the lead with a two-run single by Jake Bauers in the seventh inning.
“Make sure you guys write down that it’s Chirinos’ first win,” Bauers said. “He came in and kept the tempo up and pumping strikes and kept us in that ballgame.”
The tempo was the biggest difference in this outing for Chirinos. He said that his tempo was too slow in his outing in Baltimore two weeks ago, but that he’s starting to feel more comfortable on the mound after having conversations with pitching coach Kyle Snyder. Because of his adjustments, he feels that his control is getting close to where it was when he found success at the beginning of the season.
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“I kept working on my breaking balls like my sinker and my split and I was just looking to find control,” Chirinos said. “In these last few starts that I’ve had, the placement of my pitches have been better.”
Rays manager Kevin Cash added: “I think he did a nice job picking up the tempo. We talked about it in Baltimore in his last start where he wasn’t giving himself a chance. Since that, he’s done a nice job realizing that and [pitching coach Kyle Snyder] has given him some good constructive messages saying ‘let’s work on the tempo, let’s work on the strike throwing’ and today he was ahead of about everybody he faced tonight.”
Chirinos said that he feels completely healthy, which hasn’t always been the case this season. He had some nagging injuries at the beginning of the year before eventually landing on the disabled list with the forearm strain. Because of that, he’s hopeful he can continue to help the Rays win games over the last month and a half of the season.
“I feel really good,” Chirinos said in Spanish. “I’m starting to my find the rhythm that I had last season. I have more confidence, and that’s what I’ve been looking for. I feel calm on the mound and these are the results that you want.”
(Top photo by Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports)