Dodgers reliever Chin-hui Tsao got the win against the Milwaukee Brewers in his first major league appearance since 2007. He pitched a scoreless inning, recording one strikeout, and was the beneficiary of three Dodgers runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, a two out two run single by pinch hitter Andre Ethier and a Joc Pederson opposite field double that drove in Ethier.
I had the opportunity to see Tsao pitch for the Asheville Tourists, the Low A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, in 2000. I had heard so much about the Taiwanese phenom, I had to go see for myself. He was a power pitcher in a power hitters park and he handled himself quite well. He went 11-8 that season with a 2.73 ERA and 187 strikeouts in 145 innings.
After a few injury plagued seasons with the Rockies, they released him in 2006, the Dodgers picked him up in 2007 and he made 21 appearances for them. He had some legal problems in Taiwan, received a five year ban, owned a barbecue restaurant, and thought he would give professional baseball another try. The Dodgers signed him to a minor league contract and after a handful of appearances at AA Tulsa and AAA Oklahoma City, the Dodgers called him up. Tsao's statistics in the minors were not overwhelming but the Dodgers thought his pitches showed enough movement to add him to the bullpen mix. The road between the Dodgers bullpen and Oklahoma City has been a well traveled one this season
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