[Westheim]

Raccoons (15-16) vs. Cyclones (13-19) – May 8-10, 2057

The Raccoons had faced the Cyclones in both of the last two seasons, beating them two games to one each time. Cincy was struggling in every regard, scoring the second-fewest runs in the Federal League, but giving up the most, for a very unhealthy -59 run differential (Critters: +13). There was a lot of bottoms about this team: bottoms in OBP and homers, second from the bottom in starter and bullpen ERA (both over three), and they weren’t in the top half of FL teams in any meaningful category. On top of all that, they had a bunch of injured regulars, including Juan del Toro, Juan Ojeda, and Greg Gill, and Gabriel Keller, plus young rookie Andy Bradley. The pitching staff was all healthy, however.

Projected matchups:
Kennedy Adkins (2-4, 2.54 ERA) vs. Cory Ellis (1-4, 9.23 ERA)
Sean Sweeton (4-0, 2.72 ERA) vs. Noah Hollis (3-2, 4.46 ERA)
Craig Kniep (1-2, 5.17 ERA) vs. Jordan Ramos (4-1, 2.93 ERA)

All right-handers lined up for Cincy, also only one left-hander in the pen in Brandon Smith (0-0, 4.96 ERA).

Game 1
CIN: SS M. Tovar – CF Volker – 1B G. Brown – RF MacDonnell – C Wheat – 3B Medlock – LF G. Perez – 2B D. Gonzales – P C. Ellis
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – CF Abercrombie – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – C Chavez – 2B Allred – P Adkins

The 4-5-6 batters were the only ones with more than 4 RBI on the year (all 13+) for Cincy, indicative on how ravaged that already mediocre lineup was by injuries. Adkins put the first two batters on base, but Gabriel Brown found a double play and John MacDonnell struck out in the first inning, while the Raccoons got Callaia on to start their half of the first inning, and then Trent Brassfield showed Ellis the way to the upper deck in leftfield with a 2-out, 2-run homer. Brobeck drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 2nd, then scored on singles by Chavez and Allred. The inning unraveled, however, with a bad bunt by Adkins that erased the lead runner at third base, and the Coons stranded a pair from there. On the hill, Adkins was shockingly wobbly. He got another double play after a leadoff single hit by Tom Wheat in the second, then gave up a double to Ellis and a single to Mike Tovar in the third inning. They were on the corners, but erased themselves on a strike-em-out-throw-em-out with a K in a full count on Tony Volker.

Ellis kept bleeding runs, though. Brass and Pucks got on base with one out in the bottom 3rd, and Brobeck then cracked a 3-run homer to right to double the score to 6-0. Gabe Brown’s leadoff double, a grounder, and Tom Wheat’s sac fly gave Cincy a run in the fourth as Adkins continued to look highly flammable. Ellis was gone after three innings, but the Raccoons still scored a 2-out run off Keith Thompson when Brass singled home Lonzo. In the fifth – the first inning in which Adkins didn’t put the leadoff man on base – the Raccoons added another run, and it was Adkins with a sac fly, bringing home Brobeck. The Cyclones didn’t put up a zero until the sixth, ironically despite leadoff singles for Lonzo and Abercrombie off Justin Ball. The next three batters made meek outs then.

Adkins pitched into the seventh, but then put the first two batters on base again. Stephen Medlock singled, Gerardo Perez walked, and they advanced on David Gonzales’ groundout. Ricky Herrera came on for left-handed pinch-hitter Eric Cirelli, and while I still wondered who all these weird people were, walked him on four pitches. He struck out Tovar, then was lifted for Mike Lane against Volker with three stacked and two down. Three pitches for three strikes killed the threat, and Mancilla and Tanizaki pitched scoreless innings thereafter. 8-1 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5; Abercrombie 2-4; Brassfield 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Brobeck 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Chavez 2-4; Royer (PH) 1-1; Bribiesca (PH) 1-1;

Game 2
CIN: CF Volker – LF Colwill – 1B G. Brown – RF MacDonnell – C Wheat – 3B Medlock – SS Cirelli – 2B D. Gonzales – P Hollis
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – CF Abercrombie – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – C Chavez – 2B Allred – P Sweeton

Another shaky beginning on Wednesday, as Sweeton walked Volker, drilled Rick Colwill, and gave up an RBI single to MacDonnell before Tom Wheat crashed into a double play to end the inning. Sweeton didn’t allow another base hit for a while thereafter, but the Raccoons were also having some tough chewing with Hollis, and Lonzo in particular was reduced to rubble on liners to first baseman Gabe Brown. He was doubled off first in the opening frame when Abercrombie lined out to Brown, and then lined out to Brown himself with two out and a pair on base in the bottom 3rd, which left the Raccoons shut out at that point. Abercrombie also lined out to Brown to begin the fourth inning, and the Raccoons thereafter went down rather quietly for the rest of the middle innings.

Sweeton didn’t allow another base hit until the seventh inning, when Cirelli flicked a 2-out single to center. He advanced on a wild pitch, then scored on Gonzales’ wallbanger double that extended the score to 2-0. The Raccoons finally stirred again in the bottom 7th. Brassfield drew a 1-out walk, then was forced out by Pucks. Brobeck’s single to right-center sent Pucks to third base with two outs, and Chavez flicked a 2-2 pitch over the second base bag for an RBI single, narrowing the score to 2-1. Allred struck out, though, ending the inning. Sweeton offered a leadoff walk to Volker in the eighth and was removed then. Sencion and Ornelas inched out of the inning, eventually stranding Colwill and MacDonnell on the corners, the latter having drawn a 2-out walk from Sencion. Ornelas got a fly to right from Wheat that Pucks snared to strand the runners. Bribiesca entered in a double switch with Ornelas, singled to begin the bottom 8th, but was stranded on first base hard. Hollis went eight, then was replaced with right-hander John Scott and his 5.40 ERA for the bottom 9th, with Brass leading off. Full counts saw Brass ground out to short, but Pucks drew a walk, bringing up Brobeck as the winning run. Brobeck indeed ended the game – with another hard shot at Gabe Brown. 3-6-3 went the double play. 2-1 Cyclones. Bribiesca 1-1; Sweeton 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, L (4-1);

Pitching change for the rubber game: the Cyclones decided to go with a different righty, Cameron Parks (0-6, 5.08 ERA).

Game 3
CIN: SS M. Tovar – LF Colwill – 1B G. Brown – RF MacDonnell – 3B Medlock – CF Volker – C Lefebvre – 2B D. Gonzales – P Parks
POR: RF Royer – SS Lavorano – LF Abercrombie – 1B Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – 2B Allred – CF Solorzano – C Zamora – P Kniep

After Craig Kniep had his head beaten in on a pair of 2-run homers smashed by David Gonzales and Gabe Brown in the third inning, the Raccoons loaded the bases on absolutely nothing in the home half of the inning to get the tying run to the plate. Solorzano and Kniep both reached on errors, while Steve Royer drew a walk. That brought up Lonzo with one out, but his groundout scored only one run, and Abercrombie’s pop to Gonzales scored nobody whatsoever. Kniep threw just one more equally awful inning, conceding a single to Medlock and a homer to Lefebvre, and the Raccoons prepared to send Brobeck out to the mound for the fifth inning and beyond in the 6-1 game. He gave up an unearned run in the fifth inning, with a leadoff walk offered to the ******* opposing pitcher, who then scored when Allred threw away Colwill’s grounder for two bases.

Brobeck offered another leadoff walk in the sixth, while Parks made not one, but two errors in the inning, first putting Lonzo on base with one out, and then threw away a pickoff throw to move Lonzo to second. Abercrombie’s grounder moved Lonzo to third, and Brassfield’s grounder to short stranded him. Instead Brobeck gave up a 2-spot in the top of the seventh, walking three batters and being generally ****. Parks remained in the game until a shoulder complaint took him out in the eighth inning after Lonzo had just tripled home Royer. After Abercrombie popped out and Brassfield walked, Lonzo scored on Pucks’ pinch-hit groundout, but that was as much rally as the Raccoons would get in the inning against right-hander Josh Carlisle. 9-3 Cyclones.

(blows)

Raccoons (16-18) vs. Canadiens (21-12) – May 11-13, 2057

Elks! (gnashes teeth as he presses out the word) Elks!! … They ranked first in runs scored, which didn’t bode well with our pitching, and ninth in runs allowed in the CL. Their run differential was +29, which wasn’t *that* much better than ours, but they were still 5 1/2 games ahead in the middle of May. We had won two of three games from them earlier in Elk City.

Projected matchups:
Roberto Oyola (2-3, 5.46 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (2-3, 5.35 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (2-3, 3.52 ERA) vs. Jesse Lausch (1-1, 4.91 ERA)
Kennedy Adkins (3-4, 2.38 ERA) vs. Bruce Mark jr. (5-1, 3.15 ERA)

Another set of all-righties. Infielder Rick Price was day-to-day with a sore shoulder, but was expected to play through the pain.

Game 1
VAN: 2B E. Stevens – LF K. Hawkins – RF Magnussen – C Waker – CF D. Moreno – 1B Yamamoto – SS R. Price – 3B Lundberg – P Kozloski
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – CF Abercrombie – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – C Chavez – 2B Bribiesca – 3B Espinoza – P Oyola

The Coons scratched out a first-inning run with Lonzo reaching on an error by the bum-shouldered Price. He stole second, his 10th bag of the year, and scored on Brass’ 2-out single, the same on which Brass was also thrown out trying to reach second base. This was after a first inning in which Oyola appeared to have a 1-2-3 frame until Bribiesca dropped Adam Magnussen’s pop. Tristan Waker then doubled, Damian Moreno walked, and the inning appeared to spiral out of control until Shuta Yamamoto, the unloved Coon-turned-coonskinner flew out easily to Pucks to strand the full set of runners.

The Coons would not have another base hit until Oyola finally blew the lead in the fifth inning. He had allowed two hits through four innings, but gave up three more in the fifth; first, a homer to Tyler Lundberg to even the score, then a double to Kozloski (…) and an RBI single to Kyle Hawkins to give the Elks a 2-1 lead. Magnussen forced out the lead runner with a grounder, and Waker flew out to Abercrombie to end the inning. The Elks put up another 2-spot against Oyola in the sixth inning: Yamamoto homered (there we go…), Price doubled, and Lundberg hit an RBI single. Price was removed after the inning for Jorge Uranga, however, so perhaps the balking shoulder finally took its toll. The Coons got their second base hit when Royer batted for Oyola to begin the bottom 6th, singling to center. Callaia hit another single, and Lonzo hit a sharp grounder to Lundberg, who stepped on third base and then got Lonzo at first for a 5-3 double play which completely derailed the inning. Abercrombie flew out easily. Brassfield hit another leadoff single to center in the bottom 7th. Pucks’ grounder moved him to second, and he finally scored on Marcos Chavez’ single to right-center, narrowing the score to 4-2. Bribiesca and Espinoza made meek outs, though, and the inning ended. The Elks shrugged, Damian Moreno homered off Eloy Sencion, and they had that run right back in the eighth. Moreno and Hawkins then smashed a pair of 2-run homers against Alex Mancilla in the ninth inning. Ruben Zamora answered with a pinch-hit, meaningless home run off Dan Lawrence in the bottom 9th. 9-4 Canadiens. Callaia 2-4; Brassfield 2-4, RBI; Zamora (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Royer (PH) 1-1;

Roster move on Saturday: Carlos Solorzano (.238, 0 HR, 1 RBI) was sent to the Alley Cats for Todd Oley, who had pretty much the same skill set. Oley was not hitting much of anything in AAA, but with a terrible BABIP, and he was drawing a few walks. The Raccoons would give him regular playing time over the next two weeks, which might to some degree come out of Pucks’ at-bat allotment giving that he was also in a deep slump. Oley was the #186 prospect in the league, and the #8 prospect on our farm.

Game 2
VAN: 2B E. Stevens – LF K. Hawkins – RF Magnussen – C Waker – CF D. Moreno – 1B Yamamoto – SS Goldstein – 3B Lundberg – P Lausch
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – LF Abercrombie – RF Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – C Chavez – CF Oley – 2B Allred – P Taki

Taki had his meltdown in the second inning this week, giving up straight singles to Moreno, Yamamoto, and Jacob Goldstein to begin the inning, filling the bags, then walking in the tying run against Lundberg. Lausch gave himself a 2-1 lead with a sac fly before Stevens and Hawkins both struck out. The Raccoons had originally gone up in the first inning with a walk drawn by Callaia and Abercrombie’s RBI triple, but Brass and Brobeck had failed to bring in the second runner from third base.

Bottom 4th, Abercrombie hit a leadoff single his second time up. He advanced on a passed ball charged to Tristan Waker, then Brass’ groundout. Brobeck came through, singling to center to drive in the tying run. Taki survived a free pass to Yamamoto in the fifth inning, while the Raccoons got Allred to draw a leadoff walk in the bottom 5th. Taki dropped a bunt, Lundberg hustled in, and flung the ball off-target. The ball glanced the running Taki’s back and caromed away into foul ground, allowing the Raccoons to take two bases and put a pair in scoring position with nobody out. It wasn’t exciting, but the Raccoons would get a pair of RBI groundouts by their 1-2 batters for a 4-2 lead. Abercrombie also grounded out, ending the inning.

Taki pitched into the seventh, where he retired Goldstein and Lundberg before Sadafumi Taniguchi and Erik Stevens went to the corners as the tying runs on a pair of 2-out singles. The Raccoons sent Sencion, and the Elks answered with Kevin Weese and his righty stick in place of Hawkins. Sencion got to 1-2, then a floater out to left that Abercrombie caught without issue, ending the inning. Bottom 7th, Allred got on base to begin the inning, after which the Elks went from Lausch to lefty Gabriel Casanova, who got two outs, then gave up a single to Lonzo. Allred scored from second base on the ball to left-center, 5-2, and Casanova went on to nick Abercrombie. Brassfield flicked an RBI single over Stevens’ head, after which Edwin Sopena came out for Brobeck, getting a groundout to end the inning. Sencion got the Elks’ 3-4-5 batters in order in the eighth inning, and Tanizaki held up in the ninth. 6-2 Raccoons! Abercrombie 2-3, 3B, RBI; Taki 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (3-3);

Todd Oley went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in his debut before being replaced with Royer in the double switch that brought on Sencion when the tying runs were on base.

Matt Walters had not pitched all week so far and was once again completely forgotten and left to reading comic books of Jørgen, Destroyer of the Universe to pass the days.

Game 3
VAN: 2B E. Stevens – LF K. Hawkins – C Weese – CF D. Moreno – 1B Yamamoto – RF Magnussen – 3B Lundberg – SS Goldstein – P Mark jr.
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – LF Abercrombie – 3B Brobeck – C Chavez – RF Puckeridge – CF Oley – 2B Allred – P Adkins

A proper pitching duel broke out in the rubber game, although neither of the two struck out a lot of batters early on. Adkins allowed two hits and struck out as many, but got mostly easy contact from the Elks, while the Raccoons saw Callaia smack a leadoff double in the bottom 1st, but he was then stranded on third base and the Raccoons did not get a base hit again until the fifth inning, when Mark made a mistake to Pucks and it was hit some 390 feet to right for a 1-0 Critters lead. Mark shrugged it off, retired Oley and Allred to end the inning, and then got around another Callaia double in the sixth inning, seeing out Lonzo’s grounder and hanging a K on Abercrombie. Kevin Weese hit a 1-out single off Adkins in the seventh inning, but he was not greatly fazed, struck out Moreno, and made it out of the inning without major panic. Adkins collected another three groundouts in the eighth, nursing the 1-0 lead through eight, and Matt Walters was now getting ready – Jørgen, Destroyer of the Universe had to wait when there were the damn Elks’ hopes and dreams to destroy instead!

The Coons were still batting though, and Todd Oley earned his first time on base with a leadoff walk drawn off Mark, which also knocked out the starter. Allred grounded out, moving the insurance run to second base against Kellen Lanning. Brassfield grounded out as well in Adkins’ spot, but Callaia shoved an RBI single through the right side to get Oley home. Callaia was caught stealing, and that brought in Walters. Struck out Taniguchi. Struck out Stevens. Got Hawkins to two strikes before getting too fine and running the count full… but Hawkins grounded out to Allred, and the Raccoons took a second series from the damn Elks! 2-0 Critters! Callaia 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Adkins 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (4-4);

In other news

May 8 – NAS SP James Powell (2-3, 3.15 ERA) has been diagnosed with a frayed UCL and will miss at least 12 months for Tommy John surgery.
May 8 – The only run in the Bayhawks’ 1-0 win over the Gold Sox scores on a ninth-inning walkoff home run by outfielder Gunner Epperson (.381, 4 HR, 21 RBI).
May 9 – PIT SP Rafael Mendoza (2-1, 3.68 ERA) might miss the rest of the season with some seriously bad shoulder inflammation.
May 10 – The Titans trade SP Kenneth Spencer (2-4, 6.75 ERA) and cash to the Aces for scarcely-used outfielder Jonathan Harris (.294, 1 HR, 2 RBI).
May 10 – SFW 3B/LF/RF/1B Steve Dilly (.250, 2 HR, 19 RBI) misses the cycle by a double while driving in three runs in a 4-for-5 game and 9-8 loss to the Falcons.
May 12 – Bayhawks 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.354, 5 HR, 20 RBI) rakes the Aces for 15 bases in a 5-hit, 2-homer, 2-triple game, driving in three runs in San Fran’s 7-6 win.
May 13 – The Condors beat the Knights, 4-3 in 15 innings. The Knights score a run on two singles in the top of the last inning, but the Condors answer with two runs on three singles to walk it off.

FL Player of the Week: CIN Gabriel Brown (.200, 2 HR, 9 RBI), bashing .478 (11-23) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.358, 5 HR, 21 RBI), streaking .478 (11-23) with 2 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

3-3 week, but we beat the damn Elks two outta three again, which makes it *feel* like a winning week!

23 runs allowed this week, with most of that bunched into two 9-run routs. We scored 24 runs, so it wasn’t like we were robbed in a particular way.

Things will start to get rougher and louder from here. The Raccoons started to try and pick the roster apart on the weekend. Mancilla was shopped (to nobody showing an interest, quelle surprise) after his blow-up in the ninth on Friday, and he also refused an assignment to St. Petersburg.

Seven more home games coming up next week against the Loggers and Aces.

Fun Fact: After a rough start to the season, Kennedy Adkins is now second in ERA in the CL.

He allowed 11 earned runs in his first four starts in 24.1 innings for a 4.07 ERA. In his four starts since, across 29 innings, he has allowed only one earned run, making for an 0.31 ERA. I’ll take the aggregate 2.02 any day of the week!

Adkins of course won the 2055 CL Pitcher of the Year trophy with a 1.64 ERA before effectively missing an entire season after elbow surgery. His strikeouts are down, however. He struck out 7.3/9 in 2055, but so far sits at a rather pedestrian 4.9/9 this season. He also allowed only two homers in his POTY season, but reached that mark in April with ease.