Good News:  The Cutters hit 5 home runs!

 

Bad News:  We threw 4 pitchers who all 4 gave up 2 runs (both earned), we struck out 14 times, and we lost the game!!

 

Julio Reyes started the game and had a terrible first inning including 2 walks and 2 hits (the first batter walked on 4 pitches).  What bothered me the most was when a wild pitch barely bounced away from Knapp, Reyes didn’t run all the way to the plate so when the flip from Knapp arrived the runner slid behind Reyes and scored easily.  To his credit, Reyes bounced back with three straight 1-2-3 innings (with 4 K’s) before exiting the game after 4.  The radar gun was not on at first and then was intermittent, but Reyes was around 89-90 with his fastball when it was working.

 

Next up was Matt Soren who gave up 5 baserunners over 2 and 1/3 along with 2 runs.

 

Mark Meadors came on with 1 out in the 7th and got out of the inning, but his eight inning was a strange one.  After hitting the leadoff guy and giving up a single, the next hitter bunted to move the runners up and then beat it out for a base hit.  With bases loaded, the hitter hit a chopper between SS and 3B both Canelo and Green could have fielded the ball and at least gotten an out but it went right between them.  A nice throw from Tromp in LF cut down the runner from 2nd at the plate. After an RBI groundout, and another groundout, Meadors night was done and the game was tied.  He ended up giving up 2 ER, but I felt he deserved better.

 

After the Cutters put up 2 in the 9th, I was glad to see Tyler Buckley come on- unfortunately, so were the Valley Cats.  The leadoff hitter bunted down the 1st base line and Buckley got off the mound quickly, fielded the ball, and was able to tag the runner on the way by (which was a good thing since Pierce at first base also charged the bunt so no one was covering first).  The next batter walked on 5 pitches.  This brought up Conrad Gregor (Tri-City’s cleanup hitter).  After a good battle, Gregor took a fastball over the right centerfield wall for a walk-off homer.  Buckley reached 93 on the gun and his offspeed deliveries were between 73-77.  He was unable to throw his offspeed stuff for strikes and even though he was throwing hard, Gregor was able to sit dead-red and hit the homer.  He had fouled a fastball straight back right before.

 

OFFENSE:  Lots of good news here.  I focused on the hitters who I though were at least fringe prospects.  In order of how they batted:

 

1) K’d looking on a FB down the middle

2) Hit a hard line single between 1Bman and 2Bman

3) Grounded out to 1Bman- hit pretty well.

4) K’d swinging on a change-up in the dirt.

5) HIt a hard shot down the RF line into the corner.  The cutoff man fired home where he had no play so Pullin got a triple.  If the cutoff man had thrown to 3rd, Pullin probably would have been out.

 

1) Weak 4-3 groundout

2) K’d on a high fastball.

3) Homered to deep Right-center

4) Homered down the RF line.

5) Tried to hold up on a bad pitch but went around for a K.

 

He batted righty in his last AB after 4 lefty AB’s.  He didn’t look nearly as comfortable batting righty which is consistent with his splits so far this season.  On defense, there were 2 steal attempts against him and he threw both of them into the OF though the second one, I later found out from reading the boxscore, was due to the batter interfering with his throw.

 

1) Double the other way landed on the RF line.

2) Easy popup to SS

3) K’d swinging (missed it by a foot)

4) HR over the LF fence

5) K’d swinging on a curveball

 

1) K’d swinging on a weak wave at a high/outside fastball.

2) Homered to Deep RF (impressive blast)

3) Hard 4-3 groundout, hit right at 2Bman

4) K’d looking

 

I watched Cozens throw in warm-ups and he really shortarms the ball (reminds a bit of Ibanez), yet during the game his throws were on target and had some zip.

 

1) K’d swinging on a ball in the dirt

2) Hard ground single between 1Bman and 2B man

3) Foul popout to catcher (right in front of the screen)

4) Line single to LF

 

1) K’d swinging

2) Soft grounder 4-6 FC

3) Shallow popout to LF

4) Walked

 

1) K’d swinging though it appeared that he was able to hold up and check his swing

2) Lined a base hit down the LF line.  He made an ill-advised decision (I think it was on his own) to go for two, and ended up being safe because the throw from LF was in the dirt and wasn’t handled.

3) Homered to LF

4) K’d swinging but earlier in the AB, he ripped a shot down the LF line that was inches foul.

 

Overall, the pitching was less than inspiring.  The hitting was a treat to watch, though all but one of the 5 homers were solo shots, and we struck out too many times.

 

Sadly I have no games on the schedule for the next few weeks (was a great 4 game blitz in 8 days).  It has been a blast providing these reports, and I hope to do one or two more before the season ends.

 

nyphilsmaniac19