Portland lost 5-4
Clay Hensley went six
innings, allowing four runs on a season-high eight hits while striking out
four. Hensley has allowed eight runs over his past two starts after
allowing seven through his first five starts of the year. Hensley has
limited the opposition to a .200 batting average for the year and has not
given up more than five hits in any start until Sunday.
Lee Evans made his debut at
catcher for the Beavers and went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, including
0-for-1 with runners in scoring position (RISP) – the Beavers coincidentally
went 1-for-9 with RISP. Evans had not played in a game this year and last
played in Triple-A in 2004. He was a .239 hitter with Richmond last year
with seven homers and 20 RBI’s. When he entered the game as a catcher,
Evans batted just .186 but hit .286 in 17 games at first base.
Kerry Robinson extended his
hitting streak to seven games after going 2-for-5. He has five straight
multi-hit games over the streak and has raised his average from .277 to
.293. Robinson has 22 multi-hit games on the year. The speedy outfielder
was caught stealing for the seventh time this year after being nabbed just
once all of last year.
Josh Barfield extended his
hitting streak to eight games by going 2-for-3. Ben Johnson homered for the
third time in four games and has an RBI in five straight. J.J. Furmaniak
homered for the fourth time in seven games, combining with Johnson to hit
back-to-back jacks for the second time this year.
Mobile won 6-5
For the first time this
year, Mike Thompson (5-2) allowed more than three earned runs in his start
and it marked just the second time he has allowed four or more runs. He was
charged with five runs, all earned, on seven hits and two walks and still
recorded the victory when Mobile scored five in the top of the sixth.
Thompson surrendered two home runs in his five innings of work. The
right-hander has allowed two runs or less in nine of his 12 starts on the
year. Thompson now has a 3.51 ERA in away games as compared to 1.40 at
home.
Joe Gerber hit a three-run
homer in the fifth inning to tie the game at 5-5. It was his second homer
in three games after notching just one extra base hits, and five hits total,
over his first 49 at bats – including time spent with Portland. Gerber went
2-for-3 with a walk to give him his third straight two-hit game. He has
also walked in each of those games and scored a run.
Natanael Mateo pitched one
inning of scoreless ball and hasn’t allowed a run in nearly a month (May 7)
and hasn’t allowed an earned run since April 29, a span of 15 appearances
covering 15.1 innings. His ERA has dropped from 4.97 at the end of April to
2.25. Mateo has walked just one batter over his last 12 outings.
One night after benches
cleared following Montgomery's 10-8 win, Sunday's game was played without
incident. "There is no question this will be an emotional series," said
BayBears catcher Luke Carlin. "Hopefully we can pull out a few wins."
Lake Elsinore won 6-4
Steve Baker this and Steve
Baker that. When you are 19-for-36 over a nine game hitting streak, it is
easy to see why his name is so popular. Baker raised his average to .386 on
the year by going 3-for-4. He has scored five runs in his last three games
and homered, his fourth of the year. Baker has nine three-hit games on the
year and seven multi-hit games over his current streak.
Javier Martinez went six
innings and allowed four runs, two earned, on five hits and three walks to
secure the victory. Martinez has won his last three starts and last four
decisions. Martinez has not allowed more than five hits in any of his past
three starts and has given up two earned runs over his last 19 innings. He
has not allowed a homer in his past three starts after giving one up in each
of his first eight.
Fernando Valenzuela homered
for the second time in as many nights, giving him six on the year.
Valenzuela has RBI’s in each of his past four games and nine over that span
with an extra base hit in each contest. He is tied for the team league
with 35 RBI’s. He went 2-for-3 with a walk and now has 27 walks to 29
strikeouts on the year.
Fort Wayne lost 16-9
Fabian Jimenez was walloped
on Sunday afternoon. He was smacked around for a season high ten runs, all
earned, on a season high 11 hits and three walks in 2.1 innings of work.
The lefty gave up three home runs, matching the total of jacks he had given
up entering the game in 49.2 innings. It is the second time this year he
has given up eight or more runs and his ERA rose from 4.17 to 5.71 after the
outburst. He was also hit in the leg by a line drive in the second inning
to add insult to injury. He only truly recorded five outs on the day as the
opposition hit .688 off him. Since the beginning of May the opposition is
hitting .386.
Vern Sterry followed
Jimenez with more misery. Sterry lasted two innings and gave up season
highs in runs, six, and hits, nine. Two more blasts left the park off the
righty – doubling his total of homers allowed for the year. His ERA
ballooned from 3.98 to 5.35. His nine hits allowed were two shy of the
amount he allowed in all of May, spanning 17.2 innings of work.
Tom Vincent was credited
with three outfield assists and just missed nailing another runner at home
plate early in the game. Vincent threw out a runner at home plate in the
first inning and hit cutoff man Baudilio Figueroa who relayed the ball to
third baseman Brett Dowdy – forcing a rundown where Jimenez actually tagged
the runner out. The right fielder also threw out a runner at second base in
the fourth inning. Vincent went 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored.
Six Wizards collected two
or more hits, five different players had RBI’s and seven scored at least one
run, but most of the runs came with the game all but decided.