Coming off a dominant performance in his last outing, Sacramento River Cats starting pitcher and No. 7 prospect Mason Black was named the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week, for the week of April 8-14, on Monday.
In his only start of the week on April 12, Black went 5.0 frames without allowing a single hit against the El Paso Chihuahuas. Over the course of his outing, he punched out seven hitters and walked only two, facing just one batter over the minimum (16) thanks to a runner caught stealing. For Black, it was the second time that he has finished an outing without allowing a hit, with the other instance coming as a member of the Richmond Flying Squirrels (AA) last season against the Reading Fightin’ Phils on July 1.
This was the second time this season that Black pitched 5.0 or more innings, with the other instance coming in his season debut when he shut down the Salt Lake Bees by scattering four hits with no walks and five strikeouts. His seven strikeouts were his most since he punched out eight in consecutive starts for Sacramento last year on Aug. 17 and Aug. 23. It also marked the first victory for a Sacramento starter in 2024.
The last time a Sacramento starting pitcher held a team without a hit in a starting appearance was Raymond Burgos when he went 3.0 hitless innings on Sept. 20, 2023 in the final series of the year at Salt Lake. Meanwhile, the last time a Sacramento starter finished an outing of at least 5.0 innings without allowing a hit was Nik Turley when he went 6.0 innings with eight strikeouts in a 5-4 win over El Paso on July 20, 2015.
While this is the first Triple-A weekly honor for Black, this is his third overall Pitcher of the Week honor in his career. The first came as a member of the Eugene Emeralds (A+) when he was named the Northwest League Pitcher of the Week on Sept. 4, 2022. His other weekly award came as a member of Richmond when he was tabbed the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week on July 2, 2023 just prior to his promotion to Sacramento.
Black has secured the first weekly honor for the River Cats in 2024, though they are still three honors shy of the four weekly awards earned by River Cats in 2023 when they had two Pitchers of the Week (Kyle Harrison twice) and two Players of the Week (Tyler Fitzgerald and Heliot Ramos).
The next chance to see Black in action at Sutter Health Park will be on Tuesday, April 23 when the River Cats return home to face off against the Las Vegas Aviators in a six-game series. Single-game tickets are available by calling the River Cats Ticket Hotline at (916) 371-HITS (4487), by emailing [email protected], or by visiting the Sutter Health Park ticket office.
