PITCHING:

Will Stewart started and was able to limit the damage but was hit pretty hard.  He gave up 8 hits and a walk in 5 innings.  He sat at 92-94 topping out at 96 (stadium gun).  Off-speed pitches were in the 84-86 range.  Here is the batter by batter log:

• 5-3 Chopper/Single right inside the third base bag (wide open area due to the shift put on the lefty batter)/Flyout to CF/Hard Ground Single past Nieporte at 1B/Lined RBI single into RF/4-3 Chopper
• Hard Single to CF/4-3 groundout- close to 1B so runner moved to 2nd/4-3 groundout- nice sliding play by Brito/6-3- nice play by Antequera, charged behind the mound and threw on the run
• Infield single- Nieporte dove and didn’t come up with the ball which was a mistake because due to the shift the ball went right to Brito who threw to Stewart covering first, but the runner beat it. Had Nieporte let the ball go, it was an easy out/Hard ground single up the middle/ 5-4 FC/ Two swinging K’s- Nice work by Stewart to pitch out of the jam.
• Routine 6-3/Swinging bunt single that the catcher (Fitch) airmailed into RF (good back-up by Ortiz kept runner at 1^st)/6-3 ground double play (stepped on 2^nd, threw to 1^st)
• 6-3 Groundout/Swinging K/5 pitch walk/Line single into LF/4-3 Groundout.

Luis Cedeno came in and got blown up for 5 runs over 1 1/3.  He did hit 97 on the gun.  Ismael Cabrera came on in the 7^th and retired the only 2 batters he faced to finish the game.

HITTING:

It was night and day (ironic since game 2 started at 7 after game 1 started at 5) on offense.  The Claws put up 11 hits and scored 12 runs.  It was the Daniel Brito show who led off and went 4-4 with 3 singles each followed by a steal of 2^nd and a double.

Brito: 4-4, Infield single (2^nd baseman made a diving stop but threw wide), stole second/Served a single into LF, stole second, Bloop Single over the second baseman’s head, stole second/Lined RBI Double to RC

Vierling:  Was excited to see him for the first time, but he did not have a good game, 2 K’s, popout, easy 6-3 groundout

Maton:  1-3 with a BB (lined triple into RC gap), Hard hit groundout to 1B, swinging K

Oriz:  Great game! 2-4, Reached on an error by 3B /2-Run Homer- bounced off the top of the metal fence above the LC wall and caromed into the berm/Flyout to CF/Drilled a Double over the LF head that one-hopped the wall

Scheniner:  1-2, Walk/Swinging K/4 pitch Walk/2 run opposite field Double into RC gap

Fitch:  1-3, Swinging K/ Line single into right/Walk/Swinging K

Nieporte:  1-3, 2 run double into RC/Swinging K/Walk/6-3 (Deep in the hole- called out on a bang bang play at 1^st)

Stephen:  1-3, Worked a walk from a 1-2 count/Ripped a liner into RC that was caught by CF/Unassisted RBI Groundout to 1B after stepping on the bag, he threw home late and a run scored/Ripped an RBI double down the RF line

Antequera:  0-2, two 6-3’s, 5 pitch walk/Sac Fly to Medium RF

PITCHING:
Gustavo Armas started for the Claws and completed all 7 innings.  The game was scoreless all the way until the top of the 7^th when Armas gave up a 4 pitch walk followed by a 2 run homer.  Gustavo was able to retire the next hitter and finish the game.  His fastball was 91-92 and topped out at 93 (based on the stadium gun).  His off-speed stuff varied from high 70’s to low 80’s.  He did an excellent job of mixing his pitches and had impressive control (76 strikes on 99 pitches).  One interested thing that I noticed was that every pitch he threw that was less than 80 mph resulted in either a swinging strike, a foul ball, or an easy out.  Obviously he threw first pitch strikes to most of the hitters since he threw such a high percentage of strikes (19 of 26 by my unofficial count)  Here is a log of each batter he faced:

• Weak 4-3 groundout/Hard hit 4-3 groundout/Swinging K on off-speed pitch (almost in the dirt)
• High, Deep Flyout to LF/Swinging K (83 mph- changeup, I believe)/Swinging K (Full Count, 83 mph)
• Popout to SS/Swinging K (81 mph)/Lineout to deep LF
• 6-3 groundout (1^st pitch)/Bloop single to RF over the shift/4-6 FC (nice diving play by Guthrie, the ball rolled out of his glove but he grabbed it and flipped backhand from the ground to get the force)/Lazy Flyout to CF (77 mph)
• Hard Double off the LF Wall/Popout to SS/1-3 comebacker/Weak 4-3 groundout (78 mph)
• Routine 5-3 groundout/1-3 comebacker/Bloop Single over SS/6-3 hard groundout
• Looking K (78mph- 9 pitch AB: 8 strikes, 1 ball)/6-3 (One hop)/BB (4 pitches)/ 2-Run HR/6-3 (low liner that Maton dropped, he threw wide to first but Nieporte tagged the runner).

HITTING:

I tracked every AB for everyone but the Claws only managed 3 hits in the game so I will spare you the specific details of all the easy outs we made.

Muzzioti: (0-3, 3 groundouts (1 was a DP))

Scheiner:  (0-3, 2 6-3’s and a K)

Maton: (0-2, 2 easy outs and a HBP)

Ortiz: 1-3 (K on foul tip, F-7, Hard Double down LF line)

Nieporte: (0-3, Swinging K,  after a long foul that may have been a HR, Hard lineout to LF, High Flyout ot LF)

Stephen:  (0-3,2 4-3’s and a swinging K (tried to check))

Rivero: (1-3, Broken Bat oppo single to RF, looking K, Lazy popout to Left-center)

Guthrie:  0-1 (4-6 FC, BB)

Antequera:  (1-2, hit and run single into the hole between SS and 3B, popout to 1B)

Ortiz’s double came in the bottom of the 7th but he was left stranded and the Claws lost 2-0.  Game 2 report will follow later- have to leave the hotel to get to the 11:00 game this morning.