Tacoma got by Colorado Springs, 5-2. It's about time Cesar Jimenez had start he could look back on and at least not cringe at. Jimenez went six innings scattering eight hits and a couple runs while walking no one and fanning three. Given that it was a cold, rainy night the announced attendance of 3,575 surprised me a bit but the six total hits from the Rainier bats didn't. One person who's suddenly struggling is Chris Snelling who, while still walking, is striking out once every three ABs. As a frame of reference, his career average in the minors is once every 7.24 ABs. He struck out twice more in tonight's game. Jeff mentioned that he's dealing with replacement umps who are likely wildly inconsistent with their zone, but I'm not so sure it's that simple. It's not time to panic, or even fret at all, it's only been 34 ABs - just keep an eye on it. In anycase, Little Garciaparra led the way with two more hits, furthering the idea that he's the Mariners version of Nomahhhh or something and Adam Jones had a bases clearing triple.
Notables:
Cesar Jimenez: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K.
Shin-soo Choo: 1-3, 1 BB.
Chris Snelling: 0-3, 1 BB.
Greg Dobbs: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 RBI.
Adam Jones: 1-3, 1 3B, 3 RBI.
Little Garciaparra: 2-4, 1 2B.
Wichita edged San Antonio, 7-6. Down two in the bottom of the ninth, the Missions did their best to let 5,038 rabid San Antonio fans drive home happy:
ebastien Boucher called out on strikes.
Pitcher Change: Ryan Braun replaces Nate Hoelscher.
Ismael Castro doubles (2) on a fly ball to right fielder Billy Butler.
Jesus Guzman hit by pitch.
Offensive Substitution: Pinch runner Jack Arroyo replaces Jesus Guzman.
Bryan LaHair strikes out swinging.
Wladimir Balentien singles on a fly ball to right fielder Billy Butler. Ismael Castro scores. Jack Arroyo to 3rd.
Erick Monzon strikes out swinging.
Alas, there were 67 instances of road rage later in the evening. If there's a silver lining, it wasn't Travis Blackley as he was lit up for six runs over five and two-thirds. It could be Ismael Castro, Erick Monzon or Luis Oliveros who all went multi-hit. But we'll go ahead and call the silver lining Wladimir Balentien who went 4-5, doubled and drove in two.
Notables:
Travis Blackley: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K.
Sebastien Boucher: 1-4, 1 BB.
Ismael Castro: 2-3, 1 2B, 2 BB.
Wladimir Balentien: 4-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI.
Erick Monzon: 2-5, 1 2B.
Luis Oliveros: 2-4, 1 RBI.
Inland Empire smashed High Desert, 20-7. Uh, yeah. A few little tidbits from this game:
- The 66ers knocked out 27 hits in nine innings. The Major League record (since I can't find the minor league record) for hits in nine innings is 31, set by Milwaukee in 1992. More than 26 hits has been accomplished 15 times in ML history, two of those going into extras.
- IE and High Desert combined for 40 hits.
- In addition to the gaudy hit totals, the 66ers also walked five times. That makes 32 baserunners.
- Everyone in the starting lineup went multi-hit and six of nine had at least three hits in the affair.
- The 7-8-9 hitters went a collective 11-16 and all had a homer. How often does something like that happen?
- Nine hits went for extra bases meaning that 18 singles were smacked. That's Marinerific.
- On a night with so much offense, you'd think I'd forget about Cibney Bello. Hell no. He went 3.2 innings giving up seven runs on ten hits while walking three, striking out one and giving up two homers. You suck, Cibney, record-setting night or not.
Notables (entire lineup):
Cibney Bello: Horrible.
Brent Johnson: 2-5, 1 2B, 2 BB, 1 RBI.
Yung Chi Chen: 2-6, 2 RBI.
Reed Eastley: 2-4, 2 BB.
Mike Wilson: 4-6, 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI.
Matt Tuiasosopo: 3-6, 2 RBI.
Ron Prettyman: 3-6, 1 2B, 2 RBI.
Marshall Hubbard: 5-6, 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI.
Omar Falcon: 3-6, 1 HR, 2 RBI.
Josh Freakin' Womack: 3-4, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 RBI.
Holy Freakin' God.
Kane County held down Wisconsin, 5-2. Jose Escalona was cruising along just fine - then struck the fifth inning. Escalona ended up getting pulled before the inning was done and went in the clubhouse having given up five runs on eight hits while walking two and striking out three. The Wisconsin offense had trouble doing an IE impression as they only managed three baseknocks on the evening, one being a homer off the bat of Curtis Ledbetter.
Notables:
Jose Escalona: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K.
Luis Valbuena: 1-4.
Curtis Ledbetter: 1-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI.
Bryan Sabatella: 1-3.
On the docket:
Tacoma: Cha Seung Baek vs. Colorado Springs. Game time is 6:05pm PDT. LL NIGHT!
San Antonio: Yorman Bazardo vs. Wichita. Game time is 5:05pm PDT.
Inland Empire: Someone at High Desert. Game time is 7:05pm PDT.
Wisconsin: Jason Snyder at Kane County. Game time is 4:00pm PDT.