ON THE MOUND
Roenis had a bit of a rough start . . . .
Lead-off homer on the first pitch of the game and then a walk, a ground out and a couple of strikeouts. The pattern of a hit and a walk continued for the next two innings – luckily both hits were singles and THREE outs followed the two base-reaching batters. Roenis settled in a bit, and retired the side in order in both the 4th and 5th (though not without some significant help from his DEE) and allowed a walk in the 6th after striking out the first batter and that would be it (just too many pitches) . . .
FIVE.ONE innings ~ THREE hits ~ ONE earned run ~ FOUR walks ~ SIX strikeouts
} ONE word for the fully rested (and some were hoping not “rusted”) . . . WOOT!
} Dominic struck out the TWO batters he faced in the 6th and followed it up with a scoreless 7th
} Yourvis then proceeded to strikeout the side (on 12 pitches!) in the 8th
} And, last but not least, Nando gave us the luxury of a ONE on the Quiver Meter (retiring the 9th in order)!
AT THE PLATE
It was great to see the bats strike right away to tie it up in the bottom of the 1st but, frustration soon set in as they were unable to continue that momentum – until the 7th . It was a bit of a close call (in more ways that one!) as they loaded the bases with NO outs via a couple of hits and a walk and were in SERIOUS jeopardy of getting NOTHING out of it. Mike struck out and Cole, pinch-hitting for James (interesting) popped-up. And then, Michael slapped an infield single on a 3-2 pitch and hustled up the line to make the play SO close, the Astros challenged ~ the call of SAFE was upheld and the M’s took the lead. The bonus of it all (not that it was needed with the way the BP performed after that) was that Stefen was able to score from 2B 🙂
IN THE FIELD
* Couple of great, deep outfield catches from Michael and James
* Beautiful leaping snag of a liner by Robbie
* Nice play by Nick at SS for the first out in the 9th
tweets of the game . . .
Compass Rosy 