Pesty Pears Pop Up on Top

 

Peshastin: W, 8 – 2. (37 PA .250, .351, .625;  3.3 IP, 0 ER, 0.00 ERA) Victor Robles doubled twice and got hit by a pitch in 3 plate appearances for a perfect game; Ozzie Albies, Mitch Haniger, and Sean Murphy all homered; and Yoan Moncada went 2 for 4 with a double and thee walks in 7 plate appearances.  That and 3.3 pristine relief innings lifted the Pears back into first place rather convincingly over a Tornado team that won its game, too.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Flint Hill:  W, 2 – 2. (41 PA, .171, .293, .229;  8 ip, 4 er, 4.50 ERA.  When I say they T’s won, it’s because the database awarded them a win, and they tie their opposition 2.5 – 2.5.  I can’t prove they didn’t outscore their foes, so the database’s call on the field stands: Flint Hill won their game, even though German Marquez couldn’t keep 4 earned runs from scoring in his 6 innings, and the Tornado offense was clearly distracted by the sight of flying Pears zipping past them — again.  

 

Haviland: W 2, L (-1); 7 – (-5) (44 PA, .225, .295, .400;  20 ip, 7 er, 3.15 ERA).  Twenty innings!  Twenty good innings!  Tarik Skubal did just about exactly what German Marquez did, but instead of having to go it alone, Skubal got 14 innings of relief pitching, especially Tyler Glasnow’s 8 innings with only 2 earned runs. Joc Pederson went 2 for 4 to lead an adequate offense which (with judicious benchings, no doubt).  The Dragons not only protected their 3rd place standing, they moved themselves a half-game closer to first.

 

DC: W, 5 – 3.  (30 PA, .250, .400, .292;  6 ip, 1 er, 1.50 ERA).  Joe Musgrove continued  his ace-level pitching with 5 innings, only leaking 1 earned run.  Balk hitters walked 6 times to go with their 6 hits and post a shiny .400 OBP and score 5 runs despite having a only one extra base (on Bryce Harper’s double).  It was all enough to banish the Wolverines firmly into fifth place.  

 

Old Detroit:  W, 5 – 4.  (40 PA, .286, .375, .343;  4 ip, 1 er, 2.25 ERA)  To their credit, the Wolverines did put up some resistance to further decay.  There was some good pitching (although no enough of it); even the mysterious Mr. Underwood Jr improved from a triple chulk to an ok 2 ip, 1 er.  On the offensive side (pun intended),  Josh Bell walked, singled and doubled in 6 plate appearances to lead the Wolverine offense for maybe the first time all season. 

 

Kaline:  L,  5 – 7.  (60 PA, .212, .317, .462;  8 ip, 6 er, 6.75 ERA).  So many plate appearances! Sixteen batters appeared at the dish — so many that the Aaron Judge’s two homer and a walk in 4 plate appearances, and Hunter Renfroe’s homer and a single in three plate appearances, were diluted down to mediocrity.  Aaron Civale messed up on the pitching side, allowing 5 earned runs in 6.7 innings.  The Drive are still in the top tier, but the tier is loosening up a bit, with Kaline drifting off to 2.9 games behind first place.

 

Portland:  “W”, 6 – 8. (49 PA, .227, .306, .409;  5 ip,  5 er, 9.00 ERA).  Eric Lauer reminded Wolverine fans of the good old days when he pitched for Old Detroit by allowing 3 earned runs in 3 innings, although he uncharacteristically accomplished this without walking anyone.  Sean Newcomb and Trent Thornton combined to match that ERA over 2 more innings.  Luis Urias and Tyler O’neil both homered to give the Portly offense some spice, and hold the Kangaroos at bay.                                                                                                                                                                    

Canberra:  “L”, 5 – 4.  (34 PA, .259, .412 .407;  8.7 ip,  4 er, 4.14 ERA). The ‘Roos might have caught the Rosebuds had Caleb Smith (3 ip, 3 er) pitched as well as Chris Flexen (5.7 ip, 1 er). Vlad Guerrero Jr. homered, and Kyle Tucker and Manuel Margot each went 2 for 4, to help put the pressure on Portland.                                                                           

                                           

Pittsburgh:  W 2, L 0; 15 – 6.   (38 PA, .333, .378, .667;  8 ip, 1 er).  Frankie Montas anchored a great day of pitching, allowing the only earned run in 6 innings of work.  Garrett Hampson came up a double short of a cycle, and tossed in a walk for good measure, to lead the Allegheny Offense which also featured homers from Max Muncy and Andrew Vaughn.

 

Cottage:  L, 6 – 8.  (42 PA, .220, .238, .512;  5 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA)  Steven Matz did a brilliant job of scattering 4 hits and 3 walks over 5 innings without allowing an earned run to score. (9 strikeouts helped immensely, no doubt. ) There was a catch, however:  Matz was pitching for the AAA Corvallis Curds.   The homers Trea Turner and Shohei Ohtani hit were for a different team, MLB’s  Cottage Cheese.  Had Matz been with the big league club, the Cheese very likely would be over .500 right now, and maybe in front of the Alleghenys. 

 

By the way – I think Jamie asked one time why the Cheese’ color is blue.  The problem is: cottage cheese is white.  It doesn’t come in any other color.  White on white as a color scheme doesn’t work.  So we used a picture of a familiar cottage cheese tub, which featured this Dodger blue color — a color strangely compelling to the Head Cheese.                                                                                                                                        

Bellingham:  W 1, L 1; 9 – 7.  (32 PA, .310, .375, .448;  9 ip, 1 er , 1.00 ERA)  Kevin Gausman dominated for 8 innings, striking out 12, walking none, and allowing that lone earned run. This gave him a game score of 80, tops in MLB yesterday. Jake McGee finished off the gem with a scoreless inning, striking out 3 more.  That took care of the win, but it wasn’t enough to avoid a loss in the second game.  The offense did its part — again, for one game.  Marcell Ozuna’s home run was the big blow of the day for the Cascades.