Vs. Buffalo Nickels (30-36, .454, 5th AL East)
Buffalo, boasting HR leader
Aitor Cubas, yet still ranked a paltry 8th overall offensively in the American League, is not all the way out of it yet… sure, they find themselves operating a full 11 games off the Imperials’ pace and currently boast a -18 RDiff, but, with a few defensive tweaks, more than a few less errors in the field, and a slight rejiggering of their pitching staff it’s not terribly difficult to identify a scenario where the Nickels get themselves back into the mix, back into the thick of it. It would require that young hurlers like
SP Gabriel Rice tighten it up a bit, and that hitters like
1B Rusty Seeden and
RF Paul Fernandez smooth out their power swing… but, at this juncture of the season, it is doable. And, as ever, these same remarks could be made about our club – although with different players getting namechecked – as we find ourselves out on the periphery in our division yet wholly capable of making a run at Colorado should we find a way to right the ship a little bit and get our offense and pitching on the same page. Here then is a set that could be a precursor of things to come for one of us… will your Portland Pioneers get this locomotive back on the track starting against the Nickels or will Buffalo start to get their engine tuned up, summer-ized, and ready to perform at a high level during the dog days that lie ahead.
Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP N. Barilla (1-2, 3.95 ERA) vs RHP G. Rice (3-1, 5.45 ERA)
RHP W. Macomber (4-5, 3.12 ERA) vs RHP T. Pushkin (5-6, 4.77 ERA)
RHP B. Sánchez (9-2, 3.31 ERA) vs RHP Q. Benoit (5-6, 3.68 ERA)
#67: Win, 4-1…
SP Norman Barilla stymied the Nickels, giving them 7-innings of filthiness that included 7 K’s while allowing just 5 hits and a run…
Blanco opened the scoring with a run-scoring SAC FLY,
Simon Harris &
Skyler Dickey each put balls out of the park, and
Leo Bullock finished 3-for-4 with a stolen base. The Nickels, it seems, are just not quite ready to turn the proverbial corner…
Gabriel Rice takes the loss, it’s his second of the year, after allowing 3 of our 4 runs and their offense, despite getting a hit off our closer, were unable to claw their way back as
DiMaio closed the door ever so softly during the top of the 9th, amassing 3 K’s on 19 total pitches.
Elsewhere: San Diego has been using pitcher
Al Bundy in a myriad of ways this season – essentially reducing him to a spot starter while mostly using him out of the pen… he’s even closed a few games this year… and, I guess it makes sense – he’s always been starter material, but is injury prone, and, after 12-years of service time is ‘wrecked’ physically by any measure you choose to use – so, imagine my delight, if you will, when I noticed that Polk High School’s finest is still capable of putting it down something fierce as old boy gave the Pittsburgh Pipers the business over 8-innings of 4 hit, 1 earned work that included 6 K’s to lead his Skipjacks to a resounding, 9-1 victory at home. With the win,
Bundy improves to 4-2 on the year and now has 92 wins over his career.
#68: Loss, 6-7… we’d be undone and bashed over the head by a 6-run top of the 8th that included a 3-run TANK off our starter,
William Macomber, followed by another 3-run TRUCK off his immediate relief,
Nuno Vera… taking this one on the teeth, at home, in front of all the people we care about, and in the most embarrassing way possible. Buffalo was stout defensively, keeping us in relative check with three DP’s and a beautifully thrown outfield assist that caught
Skyler Dickey trying to stretch a double into a triple even as their staff allowed 6 bad ones before the stretch. Just a complete and utter collapse by our staff here… sometimes, it goes like that – I guess.
#69: Loss, 0-3… Listen, I’ve built a good team here, a club that, on paper anyway, should compete and, honestly, one that should handle a crew like the Buffalo Nickels with relative ease – and, I don’t know why we can’t seem to do that, why this collection of stiffs I’ve put together in Portland can’t compete at the level and clip I thought they would… look, I did the math, the numbers checked out, and we should be at or near the top of the pops in our division yet find ourselves languishing at 5th on the AL West table, dropping sets at home, and living so far outside the cake that we may die a virgin. Here, our bullpen (and lack of offense) was once again the culprit with
RP Robinson Bridges being saddled with his first loss this year after giving up the game-winner and
Peter Yamaguchi seeing his ERA balloon to 3.86 after allowing two more runners to plate during his 1.2-innings on the bump. It’s just a sad, sad state of affairs here in Rose City.
Elsewhere: Our Short Season A-Ball club, the Centennial Cavaliers, got their season underway today… the youngsters, living all the way up to the example we’ve been setting up here on the big club, lost by a score of 5-1 against the Los Angeles Leopards’, Brentwood Bishops. Our top draft pick,
RF Tyler Kirby, went 2-for3 at the plate with a walk and committed a costly fielding flub during a 2-run bottom of the 2nd for Brentwood.
Record: 34-35, .492, 5th AL West
Up Next: We’re shipping up to Boston for a 3-game set… in search of our wooden leg, a couple of wins, and our pride.