Mexico City Jaguars (7-6, .538, t-1st NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (6-7, .462, 5th NL West)
The Jaguars are off to a 4-2 start on the road, powered, no doubt, by their 2nd ranked offense - 2nd in runs scored, 4th in OBP, OPS, wOBA, and t-3rd in DINGERS. Their Achilles heel, as ever, is the pitching, where their suspect bullpen backed by their equally suspect infield defense (11th in efficiency, 12th in zone rating) is tied for 11th in runs allowed all but wiping out the ill-gotten gains of their fierce offensive unit. After winning two sets straight, they’ll arrive in Los Angeles having split a 4-game series against Las Vegas at home during their last time out. For our part, and with Brooklyn on the docket in our park next, we’ll need to use this set as a way to climb our way back to .500, and, with any luck, finally surpass that winning percentage with a sweep.
14 of 162: Doug Ehrenreich (0-2, 8.44) @ Dontrell McNeil (0-1, 3.00)
Win, 4-3 (10). We’d sort this one on a walk off, run-scoring single from
Walt Tignor during the bottom of the 10th after our clubs’ traded zeroes for 3 innings after putting up 3 each during the 7th.
OH HONG hit a triple, his first of the ’81 campaign, we hit three doubles as a club (
Koloski,
Hong, and
Tignor), and
Don Haag picks up his 3rd win of the season, striking out the side during the top of the 10th on 15 total pitches. Mexico City’s offense managed to get 7 total hits, but, outside of
Cleveland Hunter’s 2-run TANK, didn’t get much to show for it in this one as we were able to keep them subdued and confused throughout the first of this 3-game set.
Elsewhere: Tom Franzone, last years HR champion and Pipers lifer, went 2-for-3 with TWO DING DONGS, 4 total RBI, and a walk as his Pittsburgh club defeated the Brooklyn Citizens by a score of 5-1. With the win, Pittsburgh improves to 7-7 on the year while Brooklyn falls below the .500 mark once more to 7-8 on the year.
15 of 162: Randy Keramidas (1-0, 7.88) @ Dwight Beasley (0-2, 13.50)
Win, 7-0. It was the
Dwight and
Kordell show here as
Beasley put in 5-innings of 4-hit, shutout ball, followed by three more of the same from
Kordell Littles, as the two combined for 7 total K’s while maintaining the clean sheet. The offense was fierce as well with
Otto’s 3-run TRUCK leading the way while
Oh Hong,
Ethan, and
Hutchinson each drove in a run to round out the scoring… just a thorough dismantling of the Jaguars’ beleaguered staff while ours shut down their much-vaunted offense. With the loss, Mexico City falls to 4-4 on the road, while we managed to climb above .500 for maybe the 2nd time this season.
16 of 162: Patrick Keith (2-1, 3.29) @ Stephen Estevez (0-0, 2.40)
Loss, 1-3. Our stay above the .500 mark was limited to less than 24-hours as the Mexico City Jags dug just deep enough to put a bad one on us on their way out the door… 3x All-Star,
J.J. Barbari did the dirt for MC as his run-scoring double during the top of the 3rd brought their total up to 3 runs, giving them all the cushion they’d need to avoid the sweep in our park.
Koloski and
Hutchinson each struck out thrice,
Ethan and
Oh Hong went 0-fer, and
Stephen Estevez, still winless after 4 starts, was saddled with his first loss of the season after earning each of the Jags’ three runs during his time on the hill. Look, we’re winning sets, now 3-0 for our last three series, since being swept in Miami, but we can’t seem to find a way to put together a substantive winning streak that will get us above the .500 mark for good.
Record: 8-8, .500, 3rd NL West
Up Next: We’ll welcome Brooklyn to town, seeing them for the 1st time since sweeping them in the Second Series during our championship winning run through the 2080 postseason bracket.