Yuma---On the road in Arizona, the Black Mesa Anomalies snapped a 12-game losing streak, grinding out a win in extra frames after blowing a 4-1 lead in the sixth. The Anomalies have struggled to do much of anything of late, posting the league’s worst ERA and watching even their stellar bullpen struggle. The club built an early lead with a solo shot from Reed Johnson and a pair of homers, one with a man aboard, from IF Ian Kinsler, who has been force-fed more often than not at shortstop with Rafael Furcal on the DL. Both of Kinsler’s bombs came off C.C. Sabathia, an All-Star lock with a BARB-leading 10-3 record to go with 6 complete games and 3 shutouts----so, if you do that to arguably the best pitcher in the league, you have an easy win, right?
Wrong! The Firebirds scratched out a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth with nobody out. Todd Wellemeyer was so wild that he walked Vladimir Guerrero to start the frame, then watched Ryan Braun double to put two Yumans into scoring position. Nick Markakis singled sharply to score the pair, narrowing Black Mesa’s lead to 4-3! That brought on likely All-Star (9-1, 1.70) Takashi Saito, but the Japanese veteran looked as if all the innings were starting to take their toll, needing 30 pitches to finish out the inning.
That meant that the Anomalies would have to call on Hong-Chih Kuo and Brian Fuentes to get the ball to Jonathan Papelbon, and (sure enough) Papelbon (1-1, 2.58) had to come in earlier than the ninth! Braun walked leading off the eighth, took second on a groundout and scored on Asdrubal Cabrera’s single, tieing the game 4-4 and forcing extra frames.
For a while it appeared as if Black Mesa would suffer yet another consecutive loss, but they avoided ‘Lucky 13’ by manufacturing a run of their own in the 10th: Kevin Youkilis drew a walk leading off the frame, was sacrificed to second by Kinsler, and (after Jon Rauch loaded the bases) came home on Coco Crisp’s pinch-single to right. Rauch (3-1, 6.04) was thereby hung with his first loss of the year, while Papelbon (who had blown the save) managed to collect his first win of the season.
In other BARB action:
WORCESTER 11, DARWIN 6
WP: Jon Lester (1-0, 2.45)
LP: Chad Billingsley (1-2, 3.55
Carl Crawford hit a grand slam as part of a six-run fifth against Chad Billingsley and Jon Lester worked four innings of scoreless ball in relief of Danny Haren as the Eliminators cashed in a pair of errors by Finches SS Cristian Guzman. Worcester (37-34) is now just five games out in the Eastern Division. New Eliminator Jermaine Dye went 1-for-4 in the DH slot for GM Matt Caskey.
POTTSYLVANIA 6, LAS VEGAS 3
WP: Gil Meche (6-8, 2.10)
LP: Jered Weaver (6-5, 3.70)
SV: Wagner (11)
Ryan Garko and Kenji Johjima both homered, and Gil Meche managed to hold the host Luchadores to just three runs despite coughing up 11 hits and walking four, as the Creepers (29-46) won for just the second time in their last ten games. Does Pottsylvania, really, have a chance at catching Las Vegas, even in the weak collection of teams called the Central? GM Jeff Moore, actively pursuing more offense, seems to think so!
LEXINGTON 6, CASSELTON 2
WP: Johann Santana (8-5, 3.43)
LP: John Lackey (4-3, 5.40)
New Rebels 1B Adrian Gonzalez had two hits against his old club, including a run-scoring double, and rookie Jay Bruce hit his third homer of the year with two men on to back eight strong innings (5 H, 1 ER) from LHP Johann Santana, as the Rebels (39-34) pulled within a half-game of Western-leading Yuma. It was the eighth win in the last ten games for GM Ronald Melkonian, who is oozing confidence about his club’s prospects for this season and beyond.
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