Former Mets prospect Justin Dunn struggled badly in his first major league start for the Mariners on Thursday night, failing to get out of the first inning while throwing far more balls than strikes.
Dunn opened the game by walking the bases loaded, with many of the pitches nowhere near the strike zone. After allowing a sacrifice fly, he walked the next two batters before allowing a second sacrifice fly and walking one more batter. He was then removed from the game.
Overall, Dunn allowed two runs on no hits while walking five and striking out none in 2/3 of an inning. He threw 37 pitches (24 balls and 13 strikes).
After Dunn was removed and started to walk toward the dugout exit to the clubhouse, his teammates stopped him to offer words of encouragemet, noted Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times.
"That was awesome," Dunn said, accorrding to Divish. "It's nice to know they have my back and know that I am better than that and can do better than that."
The 23-year-old Dunn was traded by the Mets to the Mariners along with Jarred Kelenic in the deal that brought Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano to New York.
Dunn was solid this season for Double-A Arkansas, where he had a 3.55 ERA and 1.19 WHIP with 158 strikeouts in 131.2 innings (25 starts) before being promoted straight to the majors without pitching in Triple-A.