![]() In the sixth, Fox hit a drive to right-center, but right fielder Eric Davis reached down, snared the sinking liner and held onto the ball as he rolled onto the ground. “All his pitches were working to all parts of the plate,” said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. In the third, Jimenez hit Andy Fox with a pitch, but retired the next two batters to end the inning. ![]() Jimenez yielded a one-out walk to Steve Finley in the second, but the next batter grounded into a double play. Said Diamondbacks outfielder Luis Gonzalez: “His fastball was moving really well. I’ve been working on my mechanics, my sinker.” “I was throwing very well,” he said to the Arizona Republic. Relying on a mix of pitches, Jimenez was in command from the start. The Diamondbacks led the National League in hitting at. Matched against Johnson, the left-hander who was at the peak of his Hall of Fame career, the game figured to be lopsided in favor of the Diamondbacks. He entered his June start at Phoenix with a 3-7 record and 6.69 ERA. Jimenez, 25, opened the 1999 season as a Cardinals starter, but the success he experienced in 1998 didn’t carry over. When the Cardinals tried to acquire second baseman Fernando Vina from the Brewers after the 1998 season, they were told they’d have to give up Jimenez and pitcher Manny Aybar, according to the Post-Dispatch. With his 3-0 record and 2.95 ERA in four appearances for the 1998 Cardinals, Jimenez was regarded a special prospect. ![]() After making his major-league debut in relief against the Reds, Jimenez made three starts and was the winning pitcher in each, beating the Pirates and Brewers on the road and the Expos at home. The Cardinals rewarded Jimenez by bringing him to the big leagues in September 1998. Jimenez credited Arkansas pitching coach Rich Folkers, a former Cardinals reliever, with helping him develop an effective sinker, the St. His breakout season in the minors occurred with Class AA Arkansas in 1998 when he was 15-6 in 26 starts. He spent his first three seasons as a professional in the Dominican Summer League before the Cardinals brought him to the United States in 1995 to pitch in their minor-league system. Jimenez, a right-hander from the Dominican Republic, signed as an amateur free agent with the Cardinals in October 1991 when he was 18. The outcomes were surprising because the Diamondbacks led the National League in runs scored in 1999 and Jimenez was battered by nearly every other opponent. Two weeks later, on July 5, 1999, Jimenez pitched a two-hitter, beating Johnson and the Diamondbacks, 1-0, at St. On June 25, 1999, Jimenez pitched a no-hitter for the Cardinals, beating Johnson and the Diamondbacks, 1-0, at Phoenix. In their two matchups against one another, Randy Johnson, as expected, pitched like a Hall of Famer, but Jose Jimenez unexpectedly was better.
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