“They gave me a look,” Rivera said. “So I walked over. I was like, ‘I’ll go another one. I’m ready to go another one.’ And then I like locked back in and was able to go out and be successful, thank the Lord.”
Rivera pitched a 1-2-3 sixth, threw 74 pitches and left with a 1-0 lead.
“Throwing strikes was the biggest thing,” he said. “I got a lot of first-pitch outs, which allowed me to go into the sixth inning.”
LaHair said, “He located, and anytime you locate it’s hard to hit.”
The seventh inning didn’t go so well for reliever Braxton Roxby. A walk and double followed by two ground balls produced two runs and Lake County held on for a 2-1 victory.
The Dragons (7-11) scored on Jack Rogers’ double in the second inning. But a night after scoring 17 runs, the Dragons had only one more good opportunity to score. Led by starter Aaron Davenport, three Captains pitchers held the Dragons to five hits.
“It was all right,” LaHair said of the Captains’ pitching. “I mean they pitched well. I tip my cap to them, held us to one run, but there were a lot of pitches to be hit. We just didn’t square them up tonight.”
Rivera lowered his ERA to 4.11 with his second straight quality start. He’s the Reds’ No. 45 prospect according to Fangraphs and trying to establish himself as a 20th round draft pick out of Florida Atlantic.
“I just want to go game by game,” he said. “The only thing I can control is my next pitch. I have goals set for myself, but I don’t want to be thinking, at this point I want to be here or this has to be my stats.”
Rivera has a backup plan. He’s seven credit hours from finishing his premed degree in biology. But he hasn’t been able to fit the two in-person classes he needs into his schedule.
“I think this offseason I’ll finish,” he said.
With that degree, Rivera could apply to medical school with the goal of becoming an orthopedic surgeon.
“I would like to specialize in the shoulder and elbow just because in baseball that’s where most injuries happen, at least for pitchers,” he said.
Rivera, who was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in Orlando, is the youngest of three and would be the first one to earn a four-year degree. That would be a special moment for his family, he said. But med school? That can wait.
“Lord willing I’ll be playing baseball for a long time,” he said. “I want to have my degree just to have it, and then I maybe I don’t need to go back to school.”
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