Glavine pitches 5 scoreless innings in Triple A

[May 29, 2009]  LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) -- Tom Glavine was glad to get his first minor league victory in 22 years. It's his major league total of 305 that the Atlanta left-hander wants to add to, though.

Glavine, trying to come back from arm surgery at age 43, pitched five scoreless innings for Triple-A Gwinnett on Thursday in an 10-6 International League victory over Indianapolis.

"It's been a long time since I won a game in the minors and I hope it's the last one," said Glavine, who was promoted to the Braves during the 1987 season.

Glavine allowed six hits, but induced three double plays. He struck out the first two batters he faced and walked only one, throwing 41 of his 67 pitches for strikes.

Encouraged by the outing, Glavine said he could be pitching the majors as soon as Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs in Atlanta.

"It certainly wouldn't hurt me to go out there one more time (on a rehab) to work on my mechanics a little bit," Glavine said. "But where my velocity and stuff is right now, I would certainly feel good about pitching in the big leagues."

"I'm not going to tell you that I'm 100 percent thrilled with my location right now," Glavine added. "But I am 100 percent thrilled with my stuff."

Glavine was 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in three spring training starts and was on course to make his first start for Atlanta at Pittsburgh on April 18. But he tweaked his left shoulder swinging at a pitch April 12 and had to leave a rehab assignment for Double-A Mississippi after two innings.

Glavine returned to the mound Saturday, pitching for Gwinnett against Toledo. He allowed three runs in three innings, struggling to keep the ball down.

"It was a much better job of pitching than the other night," said Glavine, who won just two games last season before undergoing elbow and shoulder surgery in August. "I felt more relaxed and in control."

If Glavine needs another rehab start, it will be for Class A Rome against Augusta on Tuesday.

But Glavine said, "The sooner I get back to the big leagues the better."

Glavine ranks 21st on the all-time wins list with a 305-203 record. He won 20 games five times for Atlanta and reached 300 wins with the New York Mets in 2007.

Glavine batted twice against Indianapolis, but didn't test his shoulder swinging. He dropped down a sacrifice bunt and took three called strikes.

He did get to work on his fielding, though, snaring a hard comebacker to end his pitching stint.

"It was a good test of my reflexes for an old guy," he said.

[Associated Press]

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