Hmmm…

Haviland:  L, 5 – 7.  (.190, .320, .524;  8.7 ip, 5 er).  Kevin Gausman faltered in a key start, surrendering 5 runs in 6.3 innings pitched.  So did the offense, in a way:  only 25 plate appearances, and only 4 hits in 21 ABs, offsetting two homers.  The Dragons haven’t locked the gate, and now there’s something out there banging on it.

Old Detroit:  W, 4 – 2. (.265, .333, .327; 5 ip, 1 er).  Rich Hill only lasted 5 innings but dealt out 7 K’s, only marred by a solo homer. Hill’s performance covered for a modest offense —  and he lived to pitch another day, not having suffered a blister or anything.  The result: a half-game gain in the standings. Now if the W’s can just figure out the latch on this gate…

Portland:  W, 2 – 2. (.308, .333, .346;  6 ip, 0 er) Here’s something rare: a carbon copy of the Wolverine game, but the copy is a little better than the original.  Modest offense (but with 52 AB) and 6 ip, 0 er great pitching. So the ‘Buds added 0.2 games to their lead over the Alleghenys.

Pittsburgh: “W”, 5 – 7.  (.265, .419, .327; 5 ip, 3 er).  Ten walks powered the Pittsburgh attack, along with 3 HBP.  Mike Trout and Ryan Schimpf received 3 of these three passes each.  But it wasn’t enough with Jake Thompson only allocated at 50% and replacements filling in.

Canberra:  L, 3 – 3. (.212, .297, .333; 6 ip, 4 er).

Peshastin:  L, 1 – 7. (.135, .179, .216;  1 ip, 0 er).  I am unaware of anything exciting to say about either of these two teams yesterday.  They have their places in the standings pretty well set. One could imagine the ‘Roos catching the Alleghenys, or the Pears catching the Roos, but not both. But neither team did anything yesterday to make these dreams come true.

Flint Hill:  W (-1), L 2; 0 – 10. (.148, .179, .259; 3.3 ip, 5 er). The Tornados put their fate in the hands of Hisashi Iwakuma, who did no better for them than he did for the Mariners — except in the Tornados’ case, the dream he mangled was of finishing .500 rather than in the wild card, so I guess it wasn’t as bad for Flint Hill as it was for Seattle.

Kaline: W, 6 – 5. (.284, .400 .500; 5 ip, 3 er).  With 5 games’ cushion behind them, and nearly the same ahead, the Drive are settling into their 8th-place fate. A nice day offensively was blunted a little by a crummy bit of pitching from Steven Brault (4 ip, 3 er).

Cottage: W, 4 – 1.  (.205, .286, .432;  18.7 ip, 4 er).  The Cheese put together a nice win with modest offense but lots of good pitching.  Sean Manaea finished 6 scoreless innings; Drew Smyly nearly matched him with one run in 6 innings; and Archie Bradley nearly matched him with 5 ip, 2 er.

DC: W,  5 – (-1). (.286, .302, .571;  9.7 ip, 1 er).  The Balk extended their lead over the Twins by 0.7 games to a full game with an outstanding pitching performance by Josh Tomlin and two relievers.