D.J. Johnson never will be credited with the first complete game or the first no-hitter in Chattanooga Lookouts history.
Johnson is, however, the first Lookouts pitcher to be penalized for violating the new pitch-clock rule that is being employed by Minor League Baseball at its Class AAA and AA levels.
In Monday night’s 2-0 win over Jacksonville, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound reliever from Oregon was called on to replace starter D.J. Baxendale in the top of the seventh inning. The break between half innings is two minutes and 25 seconds, but time elapsed before Johnson was on the mound and beginning his windup.
“I really had no clue,” Johnson said Thursday night. “After my warmups, I took the mound and there was one second left. The umpire called time and rewarded the hitter with a ball. We’re all getting used to these pitch clocks, and I had not had an issue with it all season long, so it definitely took me by surprise.
“Guys have been joking with me, because I finished warming up for my second inning with 40 seconds left. I kind of made sure.”
Chattanooga rolled Thursday night to a 10-4 win over the Jackson Generals, who led 4-0 after the first inning. Adam Walker had a two-run home run and Byron Buxton hit his sixth triple for the Lookouts, who improved to 14-12.
The new clock rules also require that a pitcher be in his windup within 20 seconds of receiving the ball from his catcher after the previous pitch and that a batter can move only one foot outside the box between pitches. Violations resulted in warnings last month, but starting last Friday, a ball was assessed for the batter if the pitcher wasn’t ready and a strike if the batter wasn’t set in time.
When Johnson wasn’t ready Monday, home-plate umpire J.J. January gave Suns batter Sharif Othman the 1-0 count.
“I was more stunned than upset,” Johnson said. “It didn’t really take me out of what I was trying to do. You’re always trying to get ahead early, and I knew I had one pitch left to work with and had to get the job done a little bit sooner.”
Although the Lookouts can look back at Monday’s incident with some amusement, they aren’t any more excited about the pitch clocks than they were at the beginning of the season.
“Personally I don’t like them, because I think fans come to watch a baseball game,” manager Doug Mientkiewicz said. “There is no clock, and that’s what makes baseball special. The umpires have enough on their plate to add something else. Why are we trying to rush something that’s been working for almost 200 years?
“If I paid $100 to watch a game, I would hope it lasted six hours so I could get my money’s worth.”
Mientkiewicz’s biggest concern is with the corner infielders, who can see the flashing lights behind the batter.
It hasn’t been too much of an issue for the pitchers, said Johnson, who sides with Mientkiewicz in his belief that the game shouldn’t be rushed. Johnson added that the aspect he misses most is standing behind the mound to gather his thoughts after falling behind in the count, but there is something to be said about being the first.
“We do some trivia things on the scoreboard for the fans and everything, and if this comes up, it will be my first time to be a trivia answer,” Johnson said. “It’s something we’re laughing about now. We make jokes about it in the bullpen.
“Like I said, it hasn’t bothered me at all this year, and hopefully it won’t bother me again the rest of the season.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.