Tacoma got by Salt Lake, 6-4. It's hit or miss when you start a guy like Chris Buglovsky simply because you never really know how a reliever is going to throw when he knows it's not late in the game. There's a different mental state, I believe, that you have to be in to begin a game, and not just enter it after several frames have gone by. Buglovsky has started before, both in this organization and with the Rockies organization and probably even before that. However, after taking a hiatus from throwing the first pitch, there's likely an adjustment period to getting comfortable again with starting. In anycase, Buglovsky was adaquate and managed to keep the Rainiers in it long enough for the bats to come around and put it away. Buglovsky finished going 6.2 innings and giving up four runs on six hits while walking five, striking out two and allowing to bombs. Seven of the nine starters in the lineup finished with at least one hit and never-ending re-habber Scott Spiezio collected four including a homer. Yuniesky Betancourt, get this, WALKED. Everyone here at Lookout Landing would like to congratulate Betancourt considering he didn't walk once in his first fifty AB's and now has three in his last forty. Betancourt homered as well, what a night for him.
Notables:
Chris Buglovsky: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, 2 K, 2 HR.
Jamal Strong: 1-3.
Shin-soo Choo: 0-3, 2 BB.
Abraham Nunez: 1-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI.
Scott Spiezio: 4-5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI.
Justin Leone: 1-4, 1 2B.
Miguel Olivo: 1-3, 1 BB.
Yuniesky Betancourt: 2-3, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 RBI.
San Antonio held off Springfield, 7-5. The Missions jumped all over Randy Leek early and built up a 6-2 lead after the third. However, Thomas Oldham allowed the Cardinals to chip away and pull within one by the sixth, when he was pulled. Oldham finished going 5.1 innings giving up five runs on nine hits while walking two, striking out three, balking twice and giving up a homer. In short, unimpressive. What WAS impressive was the Mission offense as they exploded for seventeen hits including multi-hit efforts from Jamie Bubela, T.J. Bohn, Nate Espy, Adam Jones, Gary Harris and Ismael Castro. Everyone else had one hit and drew walks. Gary Harris gets the gameball as his three hits drove in four runs on the night.
Notables:
Thomas Oldham: 5.1 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR.
Jamie Bubela: 2-4, 1 BB.
Jesus Guzman: 1-4, 1 2B.
T.J. Bohn: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 RBI.
Nate Espy: 3-5, 1 2B.
Adam Jones: 2-4, 2 2B, 1 BB.
Gary Harris: 3-5, 1 2B, 4 RBI.
Ismael Castro: 2-5, 1 HR, 1 RBI.
Quad Cities overpowered Wisconsin, 11-8. A fun little game if you don't mind horrible pitching. Quad Cities, proud owner of the stupidest...um, mascot in baseball history ("The Swing of Quad Cities". No, I'm serious), jumped out to a 6-0 lead on the T-Rats (coolest mascot nickname in baseball history) by the middle of the second. Wisconsin came roaring back with a five-run inning of their own and kept the game within one run until the ninth when Ivan Blanco, going into his fourth inning of relief, gave up two runs that sealed the deal for The Swing of Quad Cities. Wisconsin went with a different look to the lineup as Yung Chi Chen lead off followed by Josh Womack, Sebastien Boucher, and Mike Wilson. 2-4 hitters? 0-12, 2 BB. Fun.
Notables:
Jason Snyder: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 HR.
Yung Chi Chen: 2-5, 1 RBI.
Sebastien Boucher: 0-5.
Thomas Hubbard: 0-4, 1 BB.
Matt Tuiasosopo: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 RBI.
Robert Johnson: 2-4.
Brandon Green: 2-4, 2 RBI.
Oswaldo Navarro: 1-2, 1 HR, 2 BB, 1 RBI.
Spokane topped Everett, 7-4. The AquaSox fell victim to the Big Inning of Death as the Indians started getting plentiful free passes from Marwin Vega in the fourth. After already giving up two runs in the frame, Vega walked the bases loaded and was hooked in favor of Justin Thomas who promptly served up a bases clearing triple allowing the book to be closed on Vega. Spokane finished with six more runs in the innings, a lead Everett couldn't overcome. Still, the bats are starting to look a bit better as Everett collected eleven hits on the afternoon including four from shortstop Dean Zorn.
Notables:
Luis Valbuena: 1-5, 1 HR, 1 RBI.
Dean Zorn: 4-5, 1 2B.
David Hall: 0-5.
Jeff Flaig: 2-3, 2 BB.
Daniel Santin: 1-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI.
Casey Craig: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI.
On the docket:
Tacoma: Cha Seung Baek at Salt Lake. Game time is 6:00pm PDT.
San Antonio: Ryan Rowland-Smith at Arkansas. Game time is 5:10pm PDT.
Inland Empire: ASB
Wisconsin: Casey Abrams at Quad Cities. Game time is 5:00pm PDT.
Everett: Paul Fagan at Spokane. Game time is 7:05pm PDT.