Portland Won 7-1
Righty Chris Oxspring has had his share of troubles this season, allowing
five earned runs or more in four different starts this season, but Friday there
was no sign of trouble, virtually all night. Oxspring went seven innings
and gave up only one earned run, striking out seven without walking a single
hitter on the evening.
Shortstop Jesse Garcia followed up a two hit night Thursday with a three hit
night Friday, going 3-4 with a double, triple, and four RBI. It was the
first time Garcia, who spent a month with the Padres, collected three hits or
more than one RBI with Portland this year. The four RBI doubled Garcia's
season total, and the three hits raised his average to .188 on the year.
Josh Barfield is the first to admit that his batting average isn't where he'd
like it to be, but in the last week he's taken steps to remedy that.
Barfield went 4-5 on Friday, scoring three runs, and has now hit in six of his
last seven games.
First baseman Jon Knott continued his hitting streak with a 2-4 performance
that included a double, an RBI, and for the seventh straight game, Knott scored
a run. Knott, who hit only .208 in April, has turned it on in May, hitting
.313, and 17 of his 30 hits this month have gone for extra bases.
Mobile won 11-4
Travis Chick still isn't going deep into games, but when he's on the mound
he's been very effective. Friday Chick went five innings and pitched
around four walks to only give up one run, on a solo homer. In his last
two starts Chick has given up a combined one run on nine hits in 11 innings, but
has two No Decisions to show for it.
The BayBears broke the game open in the eighth inning, proving patience to be
a virtue in a variety of ways. All eight of the runs were scored with two
outs, and while 10 straight reached base, only four had hits. The BayBears
drew five walks, including one to reliever Rusty Tucker, Corey Smith was hit by
a pitch, Nick Trzesniak picked up three RBI with a bases clearing double, and
Dustin Delucchi, coming to the plate for the second time in the inning, also had
a bases loaded double that garnered three RBI.
After pitching a perfect eighth inning Rusty Tucker struggled in the ninth,
facing four batters in the frame, allowing all four to reach base, and three to
score.
Lake Elsinore lost 5-4 in 11 innings
Dirk Hayhurst made his first start after 17 appearances out of the bullpen
this season and kept the Storm in the game with five innings four run ball, but
a Brett Bonvechio throwing error in the bottom of the eleventh would open the
door to a Storm loss.
The Storm were held without an extra base hit for the entire game, playing
small ball to fight back with three eighth inning runs to tie the score, but
other than a brief 1-0 lead that would last less than half an inning, they were
never able to get on top.
Right fielder Steve Baker is flat out on fire. He was 3-4 with two runs
scored and a RBI on Friday. Baker has had multiple hits in eight of his
last 12 games and is hitting .360 on the season.
DH Jordan Pickens was the only other Storm player with more than one hit, and
he needed them. His 2-4 day broke an 0-16 slump.
Fort Wayne lost 2-1
Mike Ekstrom finally lost, and we knew he would, but he certainly didn't
deserve to Friday. It's a testament to his season that six innings, giving
up six hits and two earned runs is just about as bad an outing as Ekstrom has
had on the year.
The problem was that Dallas Trahern was flat out incredible. Only four
Wizards managed hits against Trahern, and only two of those went for extra
bases.
The lone RBI went to right fielder Tom Vincent, who was 1-4 on the day.
Colt Morton had the toughest day for the Wizards, going 0-3 while grounding into
two double plays and striking out once.
Peter Ciofrone was Friday's DH for the Wizards, and he extended his hitting
streak to 11 games with a 2-4 day, he also scored the lone Wizard's run.
It's been a startling turnaround for Ciofrone, who hit just .167 in April with
three RBI and no extra base hits, but is cruising in May, hitting at a .333 clip
with nine extra base knocks and 15 driven in.