Portland Pioneers (2-4, .333, 4th AL West) @ Vancouver Mounties (3-3, .500, 3rd AL West)
Widely considered the class of our division, and perhaps our league, Vancouver is a club questing to get back to the promised land this season and to take care of what many in their organization see as unfinished business. As a club that has been to the post season in 3 of the last four years, even winning it all in 2081, that they’ve made it all the way to the World Series two seasons in a row only to be vanquished by the NL representative doesn’t sit well with their front office. This then is their season – it has to be – their chance to right those wrongs, to fulfill their promise as a championship club… or, not. Who knows? Who cares? We don’t – we want to win this set, to get back on track, and to start fashioning this thing into a winner.
Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP D. Hornbrook (0-1, 1.93 ERA) vs RHP J. Salcido (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
RHP H. Wilson (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs RHP M. Villalobos (0-1, 5.40 ERA)
RHP K. Voll (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs RHP Q. Benoit (0-0, 3.38 ERA)
#7: Win, 3-2… we’d put three bad ones on the board through 5 and hang on for dear life from there –
CF Micky Austin went 3-for-4 with 3 singles (
meh) and 2 RBI, we hit two, two-baggers as a club (
1B Angel Marino & 2B Mike Duncan), and swiped 4 bags (
SS Sam Gore,
RF Leo Bullock,
CF Micky Austin, and
SS Jess Alford). The pitching was solid too –
Hornbrook improved to 1-1 after turning in 5-innings of 1-hit ball, and we’d trot 5 relievers out to the mound over the final four frames with
RP Morris Jones getting credit for a save after retiring the final batter on 7 total pitches.
Elsewhere: Patrick Adams, Metros legend and Seattle’s adopted son, went 4-for-4 with TWO TANKS, 5 RBI, and 4 runs to lead his club to a 19-7 dismantling of the Colorado Kings in Denver… the 36yo vet has now hit 339 homers for his career.
#8: Loss, 7-5…
SP Marcos Villalobos gets the win despite allowing 4 of our 5 runs and Vancouver’s
RF Joshua Strahan finished 2-for4 with a 2-run homer and 4 total RBI to pace the offense as the Mounties got themselves some of that sweet, sweet get back for their hometown fans. For our part, our 3 HRs (
Angel,
C Elijah Arvinda, and
Leo Bullock) would not be enough to get it done as Vancouver had an answer for everything we threw at them today, knotting this set up with a critical rubber match now on tap tomorrow.
#9: Win, 5-2… a nice win for the boys against the sturdiest club in the AL West and a Cascadia Cup rival to boot.
1B Angel Marino did the dirt –
2-for-4, 3 RBI – and
RF Leo Bullock hit his 3rd HR, a solo shot, to contribute to the cause. Great win for
SP Kade Voll here too… 5.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 4 K’s for our starter and
CL Payton Inzen picked up his 1st save of the 2085 campaign after turning in a 12 pitch bottom of the 9th. It’s always satisfying to pick up a series win against a division rival – especially one that is supposed to handle the likes of us with ease.
Record: 4-5, .444, 3rd AL West
Up Next: We’ll head home where the Dallas Chaparrals will be waiting for us.