BOSTON — After being called up to the major leagues on Friday, former Tiger baseball star Brian Tallet pitched six scoreless innings to earn a win in his major league debut on Monday in the nightcap of a twinbill between his Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park.
Tallet (1-0), a 6-7 lefty from Midwest City, Okla., allowed only four hits and walked three in six innings of work while striking out one in the 7-1 victory. Indians’ center fielder Coco Crisp recorded Tallet’s final out and ended Boston’s sixth when he made a leaping grab of a 400-foot drive by Shane Andrews before crashing into the padded center field wall.
Tallet was LSU’s ace and the starting pitcher of the 2000 College World Series Championship game victory over Stanford after winning the CWS opener over Texas, 13-5.
In two seasons at LSU (1999, 2000), Tallet had an 18-7 record with a 3.95 ERA in 44 appearances while striking out 194 and walking only 87.
The Indians selected Tallet with the Philadelphia Phillies’ second-round selection, the 55th overall, in the 2000 first-year draft as compensation for losing righthanded pitcher Mike Jackson via free agency.
Tallet received a $595,000 signing bonus.
This season, Tallet split between Double-A Akron and Triple-A Buffalo, spending the first of the season with the Akron Aeros in the Eastern League. He posted a remarkable 10-1 mark with a 3.08 ERA in 16 starts at Akron, including one complete game. After being upgraded to Buffalo on July 15, Tallet posted a 2-3 record with a 3.07 ERA in eight relief appearances.
Tallet became the second Tigers pitcher from the 2000 championship team to be called up in the past two weeks. Trey Hodges was called up by the Atlanta Braves and proceeded to earn a win in his first relief appearance on Sept. 10.