Las Vegas Outlaws (5-3, .625, 2nd NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (6-4, .600, 3rd NL West)
Off to a solid start and expected to make the playoffs for the 4th consecutive year, it’ll be interesting to see what Las Vegas’ free agent acquisition,
2B Rich Hamilton, at the ripe old age of 37, brings to the table for an offense that was already ranked 1st in the National League last season… they seem content to stick it out with what they’ve already got for the most part with very little roster turnover during the offseason, hoping, I suppose, that steeping this crew together a little longer will result in that magic, World Series winning, elixir. Of course, we expect to have something to say about that in the end… for now, this opening salvo against our most reviled of NL West rivals, will serve as a sort of appetizer to the larger battle that is sure to come.
11 of 162: Shizuka Takeuchi (1-0, 0.00) @ Stephen Estevez (1-0, 0.90)
Win, 5-3. After scoring all 5 of our runs prior to the start of the 4th inning, we’d attempt to coast our way to the finish, relying on the strength of our pitching to carry us home, and almost lost our footing here as
Kaoru Kudo gave up 2-runs during the top of the 9th before
Haag came in to stop the bleeding, shutting the upstart Outlaws down by striking out the side on 21 total pitches.
Ethan drove two in on a double, his 4th two-bagger on the year, while
Hutchinson,
PEPPER, and
Ian Hanan would each drive a run in on singles to bring us to 5 for the game… the pitching, save what I’ve already described above, was fierce as per usual with
Estevez going 5.2 strong and allowing only one runner to plate while fanning three others followed by good performances in relief from
Major Hansen and
Don Haag. A good start to our ongoing battle with Las Vegas…
Note: Major Hansen has a boo-boo… a sore shoulder to be exact. So… we placed
RP Major Hansen on the 10-day injured list and recalled
RP Ignazio Armendariz from Triple A Compton in his stead.
Elsewhere: Jonah Dove’s 8th inning
GRAND SLAM was all the Miami Herons would need to come back from a near death experience against the Alouettes, in Montreal, to win the first of three games by a score of 5-3. With the win, Miami is now off to a phenomenal 8-2 start on the year.
12 of 162: Jack Snachez-Flores (1-0, 5.40) @ Merl Crawford (1-1, 9.00)
Loss, 2-4. With the game knotted up at 2-each, heading into the 9th, the Outlaws offense would come alive a little bit with a run-scoring single from
Jason Bland to put Vegas ahead followed by another run-scoring single from
Ray Gerhold to widen the margin. And, for our part, we’d prove unable to keep the pace as
Otto squandered another opportunity to be the hero, this time with
Ethan on second and
OH HONG on first, as he hit into a double play to end things for us. In addition to
Otto doing it,
Dom,
Ono, and
Demetri each left runners in scoring position with 2-outs, we left 11 stranded as a club, and watched it all fall apart from the dugout as
Turnbull took his first L of the year after allowing the Outlaws to take over during that fateful top of the 9th.
13 of 162: Mitch Hudkins (1-0, 1.42) @ Keith Baeza (0-2, 1.80)
Win, 9-4. The offense would come back to life for us in the rubber match, putting 8 bad ones on the Outlaws before the stretch with another one directly after for good measure.
Hanan led the way for us – 1-for-4 with a 3-run
TANK – with
Dom and
Kyle each driving in two to help us bring 9 around while leaving 5 more stranded.
Baeza picked up his first win of the season, going 5-innings and allowing 4 hits, 2 runs over the course of the game – he’s now 1-2 on the year with a 2.40 ERA and 22 K’s (7 of which came today). A nice series win to stay undefeated in regular-season series at home thus far.
Record: 8-5, .615, 2nd NL West
Up Next: We’ll welcome the San Jose Seals to town for another 3-game set.