Tacoma was dropped by Las Vegas, 9-7. It wasn't Francisco Cruceta's best night by any means, but don't let the score fool you - this was a 3-2 game going into the bottom of the seventh. At that point Scott Atchison decided that he didn't really feel like pitching well, and neither did Mike Nannini after him, as the two combined to allow six runs in 1.1 innings to seemingly put the game out of reach. The Rainiers made things interesting when Guillermo Quiroz hit a one-out grand slam in the ninth, but Jon Nelson would end up grounding out as the tying run to end the game. Nelson, Brian Schweiger, and Greg Dobbs all had two-hit days, while Michael Garciaparra and Hunter Brown drew three free passes apiece. Notables:
Cruceta: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR
Quiroz: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 BB
Dobbs: 2-5, 1 2B
Schweiger: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 BB
Nelson: 2-5, 1 3B
Garciaparra: 0-2, 3 BB
Brown: 0-2, 3 BB
San Antonio downed Frisco, 6-1. This one featured a little sudden offense, as the Missions picked up two runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings to build an insurmountable lead. Erick Monzon's two-run double in the fifth proved to be the biggest hit, while Ismael Castro chipped in with an RBI double and Bryan LaHair smacked a run-scoring single. All that was more than enough for Ryan Feierabend and the San Antonio bullpen, who didn't allow a run until Adam Morrissey hit a solo homer in the eighth. The whole group (Feierabend, Fillinger, and Kahn) combined to strike out nine hitters while allowing just six hits and four walks. Notables:
Feierabend: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 K
Monzon: 1-4, 1 2B
Navarro: 1-3, 1 BB
Castro: 1-4, 1 2B
LaHair: 1-4
Guzman: 1-4
Inland Empire rallied past Lancaster, 5-4. Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth, the 66ers had two men in scoring position with two down when Matt Rogelstad came to the plate and stroked a huge go-ahead double. Brent Johnson followed two batters later with a single of his own, but Rogelstad was tossed out at home in pursuit of an extra insurance run. Faced with a sudden save situation, in came Jose De La Cruz, who tossed a 1-2-3 ninth for his fifth save of the season. Justin Thomas spun a phenomenal six innings in the start, but Ryan Rowland-Smith got into a little trouble in relief, forcing the offense to come to his rescue. Fortunately they did just that, as stated above. Yung-chi Chen, Matt Tuiasosopo, and Rogelstad all had two hits, with Chen knocking his 12th and 13th two-baggers of the year. Notables:
Thomas: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K
Chen: 2-4, 2 2B
Tuiasosopo: 2-4, 1 2B
Rogelstad: 2-4, 1 2B
Prettyman: 1-2, 1 BB
Wilson: 1-3, 1 BB
Wisconsin lost to Kane County, 3-2. Harold Williams hasn't been as sharp out of the rotation as he was in the bullpen - his K/BB is down to 56/45 in 47.1 innings, considerably worse than his early-season ratio as a reliever. He couldn't find his stuff again yesterday, walking six in five frames and allowing two runs to get his third loss. Not that he really got much help from his lineup - the T'Rats didn't draw a single walk and had only one extra-base hit all day, a double by Michael Saunders. That said, only Jairo Hernandez and Casey Craig went o'fer, so at least that's something, I guess. Notables:
Williams: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 6 BB, 2 K, 1 HR
Saunders: 1-3, 1 2B
Rest of lineup: .200/.200/.200, 30 AB's
On the docket:
Tacoma: Livingston, 7:05pm
San Antonio: Pettyjohn, 5:05pm
Inland Empire: Blanco, 7:11pm
Wisconsin: Escalona, 4:05pm