Tacoma finished their regular season strong by beating Sacramento, 5-2. Another one of those games where Dan Rohn went nutty with the bullpen by bringing four separate pitchers (Bumstead, Flannery, Fruto and Baek) to toss an inning after Chris Buglovsky got done with his five. Buglovsky, by the way, wasn't half bad as he went the minimum and didn't allow any runs while allowing only two basehits, a walk and struck out two. The Tacoma lineup was about as mixed up as we've seen it in awhile and both Hunter Brown and T.J. Bohn both had multi-hit games to lead the charge. Rene Rivera chipped in with a bomb and Justin Leone, fittingly, ended his season with a double.
Notables:
Chris Buglovsky: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K.
Shin-soo Choo: 0-3, 1 BB.
Justin Leone: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI.
Hunter Brown: 2-4, 1 RBI.
Bucky Jacobsen: 1-4. (.136/.240/.128. I'd be surprised if he resurfaced with the Mariners again)
T.J. Bohn: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI.
Rene Rivera: 1-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI.
Tim Auty: 1-3. (...I don't know anything about him, either)
Inland Empire finished in style by edging Rancho Cucamonga, 7-5. It really hasn't been a season to remember in San Bernardino as the 66'ers finish up 58-81, but at least Brandon Moorhead kept them in it long enough to go out on a positive note. Moorhead went eight innings surrendering four runs on seven hits while not walking a soul and fanning six. Not really a bad performance for Moorhead who, like most IE pitchers this year, didn't exactly dominate. Little Garciaparra led the charge a double and three RBI and Wladimir Balentien capped his year with a multi-hit game.
Notables:
Brandon Moorhead: 8.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 2 HR.
Little Garciaparra: 2-4, 1 2B, 3 RBI.
Wladimir Balentien: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI. (Year: .291/.338/.553. That OBP isn't exactly impressive, but he'll continue to mash the hell out of the ball, so don't give up on ol' Wlad.)
Kevin Gergel: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 RBI.
Hargrove's Kid: 1-3, 1 BB.
Wisconsin got blown out by Beloit in their finale, 8-1. I might be going out on a limb here, but Justin Jordan is probably about to join Casey Abrams in the unemployment line. (Update: Looks like Abrams isn't so bored anymore!) After an OK first few innings from Donny Langdon, Jordan allowed three runs on five hits in his 2.1 innings of work. He's been miserable in just about every appearance, so the experiment should be over. While we're talking about bad pitching, Ivan Blanco doesn't get off the hook. Blanco was even worse (and has been about as bad as Jordan this season) as he went only 0.2 innings giving up four runs on one hit while walking three. As you can tell by now, this just wasn't Wisconsin's night. Luckily, they'll have a chance to rectify the issue as they are in the playoffs.
Notables:
Donny Langdon: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HR.
Brent Johnson: 1-4.
Jeff Clement: 0-4.
Chris Colton: 1-3, 1 2B.
Matt Tuiasosopo: 1-3, 1 2B.
Everett went extras to be Eugene, 4-2 (10). Tied in the 10th, Luis Valbuena's bloop single into right with the sacks full scored Casey Craig and Robert Hudson, winning it for the Aquasox. Three hours previous, Rollie Gibson got the start and was just fine as he went the minimum giving up a run on four hits while walking three and striking out two. Robert Hudson and J.B. Tucker had no trouble collecting hits off the Emeralds staff as both had three hits with Tucker going deep.
Notables:
Rollie Gibson: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K.
Robert Hudson: 3-4, 1 2B, 1 BB.
Ron Prettyman: 1-3, 2 BB.
Luis Valbuena: 1-5, 2 GW RBI.
J.B. Tucker: 3-5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI.
Bryan Sabatella: 0-3.
On the docket:
Tacoma: Off. Playoffs begin Wednesday.
San Antonio: GAME ONE Rich Dorman at Midland. Game time is 5:05pm PDT.
Inland Empire: Season over.
Wisconsin: Off. Playoffs begin Wednesday.
Everett: Harold Williams at Eugene. Game time is 7:05pm PDT.
Lookout Landing will be covering all minor league playoff games, so expect to continue to see the wrap-up each day.