HUDSON FLIRTS WITH NO-NO

Hudson dominated the Creepers...but did he get enough run support?

May 24: The Pottsylvania Creepers traveled to Central California to face the .45s and young starter Daniel Hudson. Batter-after-batter and inning-after-inning, the righty set down Creeper batters with ease, until he was on the verge of BARB history.

The temperature in Fresno was a sweltering 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Typically, the baseball soars in hotter air, but tonight was different. Maybe .45s management decided to use the humidor; maybe Boris Badenov exchanged Pottsylvania ‘s maple bats for balsa wood. In any case, the Creepers flailed all night against Hudson (3-4, 3.71).

Hudson opened the game by getting Erick Aybar on a first-pitch pop-up. Matt Kemp and Carlos Pena grounded and flied out, respectively, to complete an eight-pitch inning. The top of the second was even shorter, as Hudson needed just five pitches to dispatch Aramis Ramirez, Ryan Ludwick and Brad Hawpe. The story was the same through the next two innings, making Hudson perfect through four on 43 pitches.

The .45s offense, however, wasn’t doing much better. Manny Delcarmen, normally a reliever who has been pressed into starting duty, didn’t allow a hit through four innings himself. He did have some control problems, walking five. The bottom of the fourth was where Delcarmen started to lose it. He walked Matt Holliday and Prince Fielder. Dan Uggla grounded out to second base to move both runners up, but Ramon Hernandez walked to load the bases.

Light-hitting but speedy Alcides Escobar made contact on a 1-2 pitch, but it was right back at Delcarmen. The hurler came home for one out, and John Jaso fired to first base to complete the double play.

Hudson came back out to start the fifth and got Ramirez and Ludwick. Hawpe, however, didn’t take the bat off his shoulder in a five-pitch, perfect-game ending walk. Hudson was miffed, but he got his focus back and induced a groundout off the bat of Skip Schumaker.

As mentioned, Delcarmen is usually a reliever. He’d thrown 63 pitches, and his fatigue was evident in the three walks he issued in the fourth. With that in mind, Creepers manager Will Clark replaced Delcarmen with Pat Neshek (1-2, 4.50) to open the fifth. Aaron Hill also came in to play second base in place of Schumaker, and the ball found him immediately. Alex Gordon smashed a ball straight down in front of the plate and high into the air. Hill rushed in behind the mound and tried to make the bare-hand play, but he double-clutched and Gordon reached without a throw. The official scorer played the “home” card and ruled the first hit of the ballgame!

Hudson laid down a sacrifice bunt, but Michael Bourn flied out for the second out. Hunter Pence, however, grounded the ball through the middle and into center field. Gordon, off with contact, scored easily and the .45s led, 1-0!

Buoyed by the run “support”, Hudson set down the next six Pottsylvania hitters in order. One runner allowed on a walk through seven innings was making the crowd antsy in expectation.

The top of the eighth opened on a Ludwick fly out. Hideki Matsui pinch-hit for Hawpe and grounded to Gordon, but the throw sailed past Fielder! Matsui gained second base, and the official scorer rightfully gave a two-base throwing error. That brought Danny Valencia to the plate. Valencia worked the count to 2-1, and Hudson came to the inside corner with a fastball. Valencia took a hack and splinters flew everywhere, but the ball floated toward center field. Escobar made a head-long dive. Would the ball find leather or…

…GRASS!

A lucky hit, but a hit nonetheless! Seven and one-third hitless innings, all for a broken-bat single. The home crowd gave Hudson a standing ovation. He acknowledged it but quickly got back to business: a one-run lead with runners on first and third (Matsui was only able to advance one base) in the eighth. Ace closer Brian Wilson ran to the bullpen and hurriedly began throwing. The .45s pulled the infield in, and they were rewarded when John Jaso rolled over on a 2-0 fastball. Dan Uggla fired home, and Matsui was easily erased. Hill had a chance to tie it, but a can of corn to right field kept Ron Flautz’ club in the lead.

Flautz stuck with Hudson and his 93 pitches for the ninth, even with Wilson warm. Kemp and Pena singled with one out, but Bourn’s throw from center field nailed Kemp trying to make third base. With two out, Hudson threw a change-up to pinch-hitter Yuniesky Betancourt that was golfed into center. Bourn moved two steps to his left and squeezed it for the final out!

It wasn’t a no-hitter, but Hudson did throw a masterful three-hit shutout. He left the mound to a thunderous ovation after his club’s 22^nd win of the year.

In other BARB action:

PHILADELPHIA 3, NEW ENGLAND 0

WP: Roy Halladay (7-2, 1.67)

LP: Alexi Ogando (2-1, 3.43)

Roy Halladay scattered 10 hits to throw his BARB-leading fourth shutout of the season. Halladay also walked one and his defense made an error, but three double plays helped keep the Yankee Stompers with goose eggs on the board. The Rebels scored twice off of New England starter Alexi Ogando in the first and once off Kerry Wood in the sixth to provide Halladay all of the run support he needed.

YUMA 5, CASSELTON 4

WP: Matt Thornton (1-0, 3.27)

LP: Mike Adams (1-2, 2.78)

Casselton took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth in Yuma, but Mike Adams didn’t record an out as Nick Markakis and Ryan Braun singled before Joey Votto hit a booming, game-ending triple. Adams pitched both the seventh and eighth innings and appeared somewhat fatigued in the ninth, but Horned Toads management stuck with him. Matt Thornton pitched three scoreless innings for the win in relief of starter Tommy Hanson.

WORCESTER 6, FROSTBITE FALLS 5

WP: Heath Bell (6-1, 2.25)

LP: Joakim Soria (1-8, 5.59)

SV: Rivera (10)

Frostbite Falls lit up Worcester starter Ted Lilly for five runs over the first five innings, but the Eliminator bullpen held the hosts scoreless in the final four innings as their offense picked it up. Worcester scored twice in the sixth and seventh before Hanley Ramirez’ one-out, two-run ninth-inning homer off Joakim Soria put the Elims up for the first time, and for good. Albert Pujols doubled and homered to drive in three runs in the losing effort.

AC/BC 2, ST. FRANCIS 1

WP: Brian Duensing (1-0, 2.16)

LP: Bronson Arroyo (4-6, 4.19)

SV: Walden (5)

Milton Bradley’s two-run bomb provided the only scoring AC/BC needed to beat Bronson Arroyo on the road in St. Francis. Arroyo was two outs away from a three-hit shutout, but Alexei Ramirez muffed a David Ortiz grounder before Bradley’s shot. Jordan Walden allowed a Kevin Youkilis triple and Shin-Soo Choo walk in the bottom of the ninth, but Paul Konerko struck out to end the game.