Tacoma dropped Sacramento, 8-6. Not a pretty start for Rich Dorman, who allowed five runs in four innings of work, but the lineup showed up to bail him out - after a four-run first, the Rainiers picked up back-to-back homers by Guillermo Quiroz and Michael Garciaparra in the fourth and a two-run Greg Dobbs double in the seventh that stood up as the winner. Tacoma had 14 hits and 22 baserunners in all (eight innings), with Quiroz and Garciaparra each smacking three hits, Greg Dobbs reaching base four times, and Shin-soo Choo walking thrice in the leadoff slot. Jon Nelson was the only member of the starting lineup who failed to reach. Notables:
Dorman: 4 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
Garciaparra: 3-5, 1 HR
Quiroz: 3-5, 1 HR
Dobbs: 2-3, 2 2B, 2 BB
Choo: 0-2, 3 BB
Snelling: 2-5
Brown: 1-3, 1 2B, 2 BB
San Antonio fell to Corpus Christi, 6-3. A two-run first highlighted by a Wladimir Balentien RBI single couldn't hold up, as Nate Mateo came undone in the bottom of the sixth. With the game knotted 2-2, Mateo allowed a single, a triple, a sac fly, and another single before getting yanked in favor of Chad Fillinger, who allowed the inherited running to come around and score. The Missions would threaten in the top of the eighth, but Ismael Castro struck out as the tying run, and the ninth inning went 1-2-3. Balentien was the offensive hero, picking up a pair of hits, while Jesus Guzman reached base twice. Notables:
Mateo: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
Balentien: 2-4
Guzman: 1-3, 1 BB
Navarro: 1-4
Harris: 1-4
Inland Empire was off.
Wisconsin downed Lansing, 4-2. Congratulations to Ruben Flores, who won his first game in two years after breaking his wrist early in 2004 and missing all of 2005 with a torn labrum. Because of his injury problems, we can overlook his six walks in 5.2 innings for the time being and just be happy that he won his first game in six decisions on the year. A two-run homer by Luis Valbuena in the fifth to make it a 4-1 game proved to be the difference, as Eddie Guaramoto and Joe Woerman pitched brilliantly out of the bullpen to preserve the lead (six strikeouts in 3.1 IP). Offensively, Valbuena was the big guy, although Michael Saunders and Bryan Sabatella also had two hits. Notables:
Flores: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 6 BB, 4 K
Valbuena: 2-4, 1 HR
Saunders: 2-4, 1 2B
Sabatella: 2-3
Craig: 1-4, 1 BB
J Hernandez: 1-3, 1 3B
On the docket:
Tacoma: Nageotte, 11:35am PDT
San Antonio: Mackintosh? Bazardo?, 5:05pm PDT
Inland Empire: Jensen, 7:00pm PDT
Wisconsin: Fagan, 4:05pm PDT