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Former Pitt pitcher T.J. Zeuch had a night to remember on Monday, as he led the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons to a 3-0 shutout of the Rochester Red Wings by authoring a no-hitter. The no-no was the first of Zeuch’s professional career, and it was the first for the Bisons since June 20, 1997, when Bartolo Colon threw nine hitless innings.
The final out... #Bisons | #BlueJays pic.twitter.com/BbG9SVp3i0
— Buffalo Bisons (@BuffaloBisons) August 20, 2019
”I felt like I was pretty efficient through the whole game, minus a couple of hiccups here and there with the walk and hit batter,” Zeuch said after the game, according to Brian Stultz of MiLB.com. “I was feeling good. Obviously I’m exhausted now, but I’m grateful that they let me go back out and try and finish it.”
Over nine innings, the 6’7” right-hander struck out three batters, issued one walk and hit Red Wings outfielder Zander Wiel with a pitch in the first game in a four-game series at Frontier Field in Rochester, New York. Buffalo and Rochester are both looking to gain ground on the first-place Scranton-Wilkes Barre RailRiders in the International League North.
Zeuch was highly efficient in the outing, as he threw 114 pitches, 73 of which were strikes. He also got some help from Bisons outfielder Jonathan Davis, who came up with a diving catch after Red Wings outfielder Ian Miller hit a troublesome line drive in the ninth inning.
”Off the bat, I thought it was going to drop, and then when I turned around and saw him sprinting in, I knew he was going to catch it because he makes unbelievable catches like that on a routine basis,” Zeuch told Stultz. “The minute I saw his eyes light up, I knew it was going to get caught.”
Oh, and here's the second-to-last out.@3_JonathanDavis with the INSANE grab to preserve the no-hitter for @TJZeuch #Bisons #BlueJays pic.twitter.com/K2YUPQuee5
— Buffalo Bisons (@BuffaloBisons) August 20, 2019
In the 2019 season, Zeuch has appeared in 13 games split between Triple-A Buffalo and Single-A Dunedin. Over that span, he has accumulated a 3.87 ERA with 47 strikeouts over 76.2 innings. This was his first complete game and first shutout of 2019, and he has pitched to a 4-2 record.
At Pitt, Zeuch made 33 starts in 39 appearances with the Panthers between 2014 and 2016. He finished his collegiate career with 205 strikeouts, which ranks seventh in program history. After earning a second-team All-ACC nod in 2016, he was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the first round of the 2016 MLB draft. Since then, he has been gradually moving up in the organization.