Jose De Leon's Nine Strike Out Victorious Debut - 2016 Topps Now - #426

In commemoration of Jose De Leon's fantastic debut game Topps has issued a 2016 Topps Now card for him.  Go here to check it out and order.  De Leon struck out nine Padres batters and walked none to record his first victory of his career.  As you can imagine, Jose's entire family flew in to town to take in the game.  Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:

"I was pretty calm until I saw my brother," he said. "He went up to the rail and I just saw him. Usually when I pitch, I stick with my routine, but when I saw him I stopped my warmup and went up to him, hugged him, told him, 'I did it.' That was pretty special, I got emotional there. He didn't say much, but I know he almost cried.

"I saw on the replay for my first strikeout, my dad just jumped all over the place. It was my first time actually seeing them in the stadium since I signed in 2013 and now I know what they go through when they see me on the TV when they're in Puerto Rico."

UPDATE:  The print run for this card is 705 copies.

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Blog Kiosk: 9/5/2016 - Dodgers Links - Puig, Kershaw, Bellinger and De Leon

That wasn't a bad debut for Jose De Leon yesterday.  He went a strong six innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits and no walks.  De Leon also struck out nine Padres batters.  Per Ron Cervenka at Think Blue LA:

“The line score doesn’t speak to how Jose pitched today,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters after the game. “Obviously the punch outs were great, but throwing strikes and holding base runners – picked a guy off – and even when there was the soft liner, the bunt base hit and the close play by [Travis] Jankowski that got away from him and scored a run, he kept his composure.”
...
“Remember, Jose has been a strikeout pitcher all his life,” said Jose M. De Leon, the young right-hander’s father who flew his family in from Puerto Rico for his son’s MLB debut. “But I didn’t expect that; to project that strikeout success that he had before to the big leagues. But nine strikeouts in six innings, I guess he’s going to keep doing what he has been doing all his life. He’s a strikeout pitcher.”

The rookie earned his first victory of his career and helped propel the Dodgers to a three game lead over the slumping Giants.  BTW, only two other Dodger pitchers have recorded more strike outs in their professional debut - Pedro Astacio and Kaz Ishii with ten each.  Furthermore, since 1913 only four other hurlers in the Major Leagues have recorded at least nine strike outs and zero walks in their debut.

On a side note, we also found out (via Ron Cervenka at Think Blue LA) that Yasiel Puig called his three0run home run in the third inning of yesterdays game:

“He called it, he actually called it,” De Leon said of Puig’s home run. “It’s actually like the third time this year that he’s called some shots. It’s amazing.”

As a result, De Leon shared a huge hug with Puig in the Dodgers dugout after his three-run blast.

“That guy has done it so many times that it just cracks me up,” he added.

Photos above via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2016.  Go here to check out more pics by Jon and Juan Ocampo from yesterdays game.  Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodger History:  In 1908 Brooklyn Superbas (Dodgers) pitcher Nap Rucker throws a no-hitter against the Boston Braves at Washington Park.  In 1955 Don Newcombe beat the Phillies for his 20th win of the season and hit his seventh home run of the year - breaking a National League record for homers by a pitcher.