[Ruwisc]

Week 21: August 14-20, 2023



We had a Monday off day - didn't do much with it but it allows us to skip Shirah's turn in the rotation and go straight back to Quintana. Good thing too, as look who's coming into town!

August 15-16: Bees (77-40) vs. Louisville Colts (73-45)
Knock on wood, maybe we're looking at an NLCS preview here? As of Tuesday, the Bees and Colts hold the #1 and #2 seeds in the NL. We've played the Colts in the playoffs twice before (2019, 2022), both in the first round, and beaten them both times. We're not running nearly as hot as we did in June and July, so Louisville is probably licking their chops to play us, but they have been without Christian Yelich since the All-Star Break due to... a "bone marrow edema". I have to say, I'm a lot less confused than I was when I was reading that as "bone marrow enema", but it still doesn't sound fun. The Colts do come in having lost 3 straight and 5 of 6 on their western road trip that has taken them through San Francisco, Omaha and Vancouver before bringing them to the Hive. We played a Saturday & Sunday set in Louisville back in mid-April and lost both games, scoring just 3 runs in the process.

Game 1 - Jose Quintana (14-5, 2.54) vs. Matt Sires (7-5, 4.61)
LOU: SS Rosario, 2B Dozier, RF Stanton, 1B Aguilar, C Kelly, 3B Northcut, CF Solarte, LF Stunkel, P Sires
SLC: CF Mesa, C Cottam, 3B Guerrero, RF Robles, 1B Ishihara, 2B Phyo, LF Gamel, SS Mota, P Quintana

Sires is the fourth straight lefty pitcher we're facing, so another weird lineup day... Sires is a pretty promising youngster, in his 2nd year with the big club after being a 2nd-round pick in 2020 from UAB. Really strong strikeout numbers bolstered by an absolute wipeout change... he's coming off a bad game, last Wednesday in Omaha, but the offense bailed him out in a major way and they won 18-6. That was right after the Thunder had swept us... Quintana is coming off a win Wednesday in Miami, another ho-hum double digit K game for him. He has won 5 of his 6 starts since coming over from the Nats... the game started with a single by Amed Rosario and a walk to Brian Dozier, and frogs in my throat, but Q responded by striking out the next three (and ultimately, the next five), and then Mesa hit Sires' first pitch of the game for an absolute bomb to left-center, a 423-foot solo shot! Cottam reached his first two times, a double in the first and walk in the third, but was stranded in the former and killed a rally by getting picked off in the latter... Louisville didn't get their second hit until the 4th, by Giancarlo Stanton, and he was immediately wiped out by a 5-4-3 DP... we were assisted by some poor defense in the 5th. Gamel doubled to lead off, and when Mota smoked a grounder to second, Jesus Aguilar couldn't catch the throw from Dozier to retire him. Mesa walked on four pitches to load the bases with one out, and Cottam then reached for the third time, with his second double of the day, scoring two! That was it for Sires (4.1 IP). Guerrero followed with a sac fly to make it 4-0... Mota had a sac fly of his own in the 6th, scoring Ishihara... Quintana had problems with his pitch count today, and threw 25 pitches just in the 7th while getting 2 K and walking the other 2. Paul Goodwin had to come in to replace him... Goodwin finished the game, giving up a homer to Nick Northcut in the 9th, so no shutout but a solid win.


W: Jose Quintana (15-5) L: Matt Sires (7-6)
PotG: Jose Quintana

Love getting to throw Quintana against a team this good - makes me feel like the playoffs are gonna be different this year.

On Wednesday morning, we learned that Willie Joe Garry is finally recovered from his sprained ankle. As helpful as he was through the month of June, he'll have to wait til September to come back up after our deadline addition of Tilson. But he'll be back in Hawaii in case we need reinforcements.

Game 2 - Jack Flaherty (12-7, 3.56) vs. Joseph Charles (6-5, 3.30)
LOU: SS Rosario, 2B Dozier, 1B Aguilar, RF Stanton, C Kelly, 3B Tolbert, LF Abrams, CF Solarte, P Charles
SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, CF Mesa, LF Gamel, C Cottam, 2B Maezes, P Flaherty

Charles is the Colts ace, but you wouldn't know it from looking at his W-L record. Looks like a problem of low stamina, since he hasn't finished the 7th inning in any of his starts this season, and also the fact that he missed the whole month of May through injury. He's a real kid, a 25th-round pick of the Mets this past draft from high school who didn't sign and honored his commitment to play for the Tar Heels. Nice looking pitcher - a 23-year-old who has a killer slider and can also play the outfield in a pinch (though he hasn't this year)... Flaherty had a no-decision in last Thursday's extra-inning win over Miami, throwing 6 innings and just 1 run allowed... we broke through first. Robles doubled in his first appearance, and Guerrero followed with an RBI single... Flaherty was off to a strong start, retiring the first six Colts in order... Chris Abrams was the first Louisville player to reach, leading off the 3rd with a double, but he was left on third... the next inning, though, Louisville tied the game on a series of three singles, LT Tolbert driving home Jesus Aguilar, and Aguilar homered in the 6th to make it 2-1... On cue, Charles was done after 5 innings, despite giving up 5 hits and 1 run with 9 K... Flaherty was done after the 6th, in line for an L despite another really good outing. Time for the Bees hitters to bail him out... in the 7th, our momentum really fizzled. Cottam led off with a walk against Tommy Kahnle, and Maezes came up intending to sac bunt, but Kahnle got the force at 2nd. Shirah came up as a pinch-hitter and singled, but Angel Solarte came up gunning and nabbed Maezes going first-to-third... Mota then singled after that, so we're thinking the Louisville defense cost us a run here... Bennerman, Vazquez and Young pitched clean innings each to get us to the bottom of the ninth, against All-Star closer Hidekazu Hirose. First is Cottam... who strikes out. Then Phyo, pinch-hitting for Maezes against the lefty, and that's a base hit up the middle on a 2-1 pitch. Getting there... now Tilson in the pitcher's spot... the 1-0 is right at the shortstop, who turns a 6-4-3 DP to end our night.


W: Joseph Charles (7-5) L: Jack Flaherty (12-8) S: Hidekazu Hirose (32)
PotG: Joseph Charles

Tough one. Louisville's a great pitching team, and they'll be even scarier when Yelich is healthy, so I'll be hoping to avoid them in October.

August 17-18: Bees (78-41) vs. San Antonio Marshals (53-67)
The Marshals' current losing road trip has seen them fall into last place in our division - the perfect time for them to make their first of two trips to the Hive. We've already played 4 games in their ballpark, splitting both series, and they will visit us again September 14 and 15. They just lost 3 of 4 between Chicago and Cincinnati. San Antonio has been torn apart by injury, as I've mentioned before, and things haven't really changed on that front. We're going up against the soft part of their basically AAA rotation.

Game 1 - Will Shirah (7-7, 4.92) vs. Jake Bedevian (4-10, 4.60)
SAN: 2B Malone, SS Hamilton, RF Herron, 1B Woodall, C McCann, 3B Wofford, LF Nelson, CF Cruz, P Bedevian
SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, CF Mesa, LF Gamel, C Cottam, 2B Phyo, P Shirah

Can't remember a game where Shirah actually batted ninth, but it's probably fair... Bedevian has an ERA that's not too bad, but he's pitching decidedly not very well at this moment. The Marshals won his last start, but in spite of his 5 runs allowed in 3.2 innings, beating the Padres... he came over in an in-division trade with the Suns at the 2020 deadline, in a deal that also netted San Antonio their starting 1B, Kevin Woodall, both as prospects given up for Zach Petrick... Bedevian's got a couple of decent pitches but he walks everybody... Shirah is making his first start in 9 days, and I'm definitely glad he is facing this team and not the Colts, but we'll see... after two quick outs in the first, Shirah walked Jimmy Herron and Woodall hit a ball oppo taco for a 2-0 Marshals lead... true to form, Bedevian walked three Bees in the first two innings, but we didn't have a hit & couldn't make him pay... in the 4th, Will was saved by his defense. Brody Wofford hit a 2-0 pitch into the right-field corner and was thinking 3 all the way, but Robles came up firing and gunned him down. That was made even more important when the next two batters singled, and SA ended up not scoring that inning... our first hit finally came in the 4th, when Guerrero swung on 3-0 but singled to right. Ishihara then drew a long walk and Mesa crushed a ball into the Utah night, way out to left-center for a 3-run shot. 3-2 Bees! Robles came up the next inning and went deep himself to extend the lead. Shirah ultimately threw six innings, none of which were of the 1-2-3 variety, and had eight hits allowed, but managed to keep the Marshals off the board after the first. He had just as big a contribution in the bottom of the sixth. With Bedevian ceding to AJ Ramos, Gamel and Cottam were on base with one out when Will hit his 19th home run, boosting the lead to 7-2. After two more walks and a single loaded the bases, Mesa had a single off of Branden Nunn to make it 8-2, and then catcher Kyle McCann suffered the ignominy of allowing another run on a strikeout-passed ball... Shane Watson filled the game out from there, missing out on the three inning save because he was spelled by Miller in the ninth. He allowed a two-run double to Woodall in the 8th to complete the scoring.


W: Will Shirah (8-7) L: Jake Bedevian (4-11)
PotG: Kevin Woodall (I guess; he had all 4 RBI for SA, but Mesa drove in 4 for us, and Shirah had a 3 run homer and six solid innings... whatever)

Game 2 - Joey Lucchesi (12-4, 4.09) vs. Phil Coulter (0-1, 4.85)
SAN: 2B Malone, SS Hamilton, RF Herron, 1B Woodall, C McCann, 3B Wofford, LF McIlwain, CF Cruz, P Coulter
SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, CF Mesa, LF Gamel, 2B Phyo, C Ackerman, P Lucchesi

Coulter is the Marshals' top prospect, and should probably be in AAA right now but isn't because of their pitching injuries. He has only pitched in 11 games this year, 5 in MLB, due to a few injuries, most notably a partially torn labrum that caused him to miss May, June and most of July. Last time out, he got knocked around by the Cubs in an 8-6 loss, his first decision at the MLB level... Lucchesi's last game was the heartbreaker against Philly on Saturday, that I'd rather not talk about any more, but that also snapped a streak of 12 straight Lucchesi starts that we had won, going back to mid-May. He's still won 8 consecutive decisions... I think we caught Coulter by surprise in the 2nd. Gamel led off with a walk, and then swiped his first bag of the season. Despite two outs following, Lucchesi smashed a hit through the right side for an RBI single... Gamel had an even more direct impact his next time up, hitting a line-drive home run, a 2-run shot scoring Mesa, to make it 3-0... Lucchesi was steady-Eddie throughout the early-mid game, scattering a few hits, with honestly not much to report on... Guerrero tacked on another run with a homer in the 5th... weird quirk of this game: the two pitchers combined to hit 5-5 in this contest, Lucchesi with 3 hits and Coulter 2 in their only trips, but aside from Joey's RBI earlier none of the hits were consequential... Lucchesi started the 7th with a walk to Wofford and allowed a double to Brandon McIlwain and that was it for him - 6 innings, 6 hits. Thanks to Sam Bennerman, he'd also be charged two runs as Fadriel Cruz hit a two-run shot to right and got the Marshals within 4-3... credit to him afterwards though, he got us through the 7th and 8th after that still at that score... Miller on for the save. McIlwain strikes out looking after fouling off four pitches... Cruz singles to left, putting the tying run on... pinch-hitter Drevian Nelson walks, and now the fans are restless. AI Mike goes to the pen now, so credit to him - Felipe Vazquez is on to face a couple of tough lefties. All is well too as he strikes out Malone and David Hamilton grounds out 3-unassisted.


W: Joey Lucchesi (13-4) L: Phil Coulter (0-2) S: Felipe Vazquez (19)
PotG: Joey Lucchesi

Nice series win, and that clinches a .500 season for the Bees this year! (It's a 160-game schedule, remember) We're the first NL team to reach that mark, and only Las Vegas in the AL has done so. The division race is pretty safe (we are 16 1/2 games ahead of Houston) so my eyes are mostly on the race for the #1 seed, in which we're up 4 1/2 games on Louisville and 5 on Buffalo. Our magic number, both to clinch the division and a playoff spot, is 23 at the moment - the Astros have the 9th best record in the NL, so they're the team to compare to in both cases.

August 19-20: Bees (80-41) vs. Omaha Thunder (53-68)
As we get down near the end of such things, Omaha is the only NL Central rival with whom we're in danger of losing the season series. They've beaten us 3 of 4 games thus far, although all of those games have been at their place. Our next four home games will actually be against the Thunder - two this weekend, then we go out on an 8-game road trip and they'll be here to greet us when we get back on the 31st.

Game 1 - rained out. We'll have to play a Sunday doubleheader, our second DH of the season.

On Sunday morning, we inked Ben Gamel to a two-year contract extension with a club option for 2026. That'll pay him $4 million per season.

Game 1 for real - Ray Gaither (3-2, 4.37) vs. Zack Wheeler (9-5, 4.49)
OMA: LF Hillman, RF Ellis, 3B Senzel, CF Witherspoon, SS Anderson, 2B LeMahieu, 1B Trejo, C Cervelli, P Wheeler
SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, CF Mesa, LF Gamel, C Cottam, 2B Phyo, P Gaither

We just saw Wheeler in the last series - he pitched that Tuesday game, and gave up 5 runs over 6 innings, but beat us anyway. In the interim, he got shelled in Miami last Sunday, allowing 8 runs in an 11-0 loss (though not all were earned)... Gaither was bailed out last Sunday by the ninth-inning comeback and walkoff vs. Philadelphia... nice bit of small-ball for us in the first; Robles and Guerrero both singled, followed by a double-steal, and so Ishihara's groundout scored a run... Mota added an RBI single in the 2nd, bailing out Gaither who had popped up his sac bunt attempt... Ray had made it through two innings without allowing a hit, but Cervelli singled leading off the 3rd ahead of Adam Hillman's looong home run deep to center and way out, tying the game 2-2... following that, the Thunder loaded the bases, so Gaither labored a lot in that third despite not giving up another run... Cesar Trejo did give the Thunder the lead in the 4th with a solo shot, and Duke Ellis drove Cervelli around later to make it 4-2... Gaither was done after that 4th inning. Paul Goodwin settled things down a bit by striking out the side in the fifth... Phyo got us within 1 on a solo homer in the 6th, just his fourth home run of the year... the bullpen really did the job today, but we're using a lot of guys for the first game of a doubleheader... Goodwin two scoreless innings, Bennerman an empty frame, Vazquez an empty frame and Miller an empty frame... Ishihara led off the 8th with a double off of Cason Sherrod, went up to 3rd on Mesa's hit and scored on Cottam's sac fly, so we headed to the 9th tied at 4... in the bottom of the 9th, against Tommy Rowley, Mota led off with a walk... Luis then stole second, which ended up not mattering when Robles walked as well... Guerrero smoked an 0-1 pitch to left for a base hit... Mota chugs around third... the throw by Hillman... he's safe! Bees win!


W: Jared Miller (3-5) L: Tommy Rowley (1-3)
PotG: Adam Hillman

Love it. This is a team that's just a lot of fun to follow. (Really good news that this game didn't go to extras.) Fast-forward a few hours:

Game 2 - Jose Quintana (15-5) vs. Kaleb Hill (4-7, 4.35)
OMA: LF Hillman, RF Ellis, 3B Senzel, CF Witherspoon, SS Anderson, 2B LeMahieu, 1B Trejo, C Telis, P Hill
SLC: CF Mesa, 3B Guerrero, RF Robles, LF Shirah, 1B Ishihara, 2B Phyo, SS Mota, C Ackerman, P Quintana

This is our first time seeing Hill, a rookie who's been up and down a couple times this year. He was a 6th-round pick from Ole Miss in 2021. Looks like a future mid-rotation starter, but has a slight problem with consistency. For example, in his last five outings, he's thrown 4 quality starts and one game where he gave up seven runs in the first and left... Quintana has had to labor in his last few outings, but hasn't gotten burned really. Coincidentally, he's thrown exactly 6.2 innings in all three of his August starts, all wins... the Omaha lineup got to Q straight away. Ellis singled with one out, stole second and walked home on Senzel's RBI double... Robles tripled with 2 out in the first, but from that point, no one reached base until Mesa came up again in the third. He singled, so did Guerrero, and Robles socked another triple into the gap to score them both. Oughta stop at second and improve your shot at the cycle... Quintana worked around two fourth-inning hits... we loaded the bases with no out in the bottom of the 4th, but only got 1 home, thanks to an infield single by Aaron Ackerman, weirdly his first RBI in a Bees uniform despite hitting alright in a part-time basis... Ishihara extended the lead to 4-1 by homering in the 5th... that'd be the final inning for Kaleb Hill. 5 innings, 4 runs on 8 hits for him... Quintana really quieted down after that first-inning blip, and scattered six hits across his 7 innings... Shirah capped the scoring by homering in the 7th, a milestone 20th HR for him, and Holder/Blackwood combined to shut the door in the final innings so we didn't have to reuse any pitchers from the afternoon game.


W: Jose Quintana (16-5) L: Kaleb Hill (4-8)
PotG: Jose Quintana

Love to see a doubleheader sweep, and that caps off another excellent 5-1 week for the Bees.

Bees' Player of the Week:
SP Jose Quintana - 2-0, 13.2 IP over two starts, 9 H, 1 R, 18 K, 4 BB

On the Leaderboard:
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: T-5th in RBI (107), 5th in hits (167), 8th in total bases (268)
Morio Ishihara: 9th in HR (30), T-5th in RBI (107), 8th in slugging (.561), 6th in OPS (.962), 6th in total bases (270)
Victor Victor Mesa: 7th in average (.339), T-2nd in triples (11)
Victor Robles: 2nd in doubles (33)
Charlie Tilson: T-2nd in triples (11)
Jose Quintana: 1st in ERA (2.41), 1st in wins (16), 1st in WAR (6.9), 1st in innings (187), 1st in CG (4), T-1st in SHO (2), 2nd in K (197), 7th in K/BB (4.3), 3rd in WHIP (1.10), 1st in FIP (2.95), 1st in QS (22)
Jack Flaherty: T-2nd in wins (13), 4th in WAR (4.0), 4th in innings (155), 6th in K/BB (4.5), 4th in BB/9 (1.8), 8th in WHIP (1.20), 2nd in QS (18)
Joey Lucchesi: T-5th in wins (12)
Jared Miller: 8th in Sv% (24/27, 89%)

Minor League Bees:
AAA Hawaii split six games on their road trip, winning a series in Yuma (Diamondbacks) and losing a series in Santa Barbara (Silver Sox). The Islanders are 70-50, 8 GB in the PCL Pacific but in second place.
AA Cedar City was 5-2, splitting a 4-game set with Flagstaff (Saguaros) but sweeping Farmington (Suns). CC is 70-56, also in second place but 13 games back.
A Burlington lost every game last week, and that streak continued to 11 before a rebound series win at Beloit (Monarques). These Bees are 67-53, 10 games back in the MWL West and in 5th place (13 team division).
The AZL Bees had another toughish week, going 3-4, including a sweep at the hands of Oklahoma, and are pretty much out of the playoff hunt.
And the PRSL Bees had a 4-3 week, but that meant getting swept by Norfolk and then winning two-game sets from Milwaukee and Boston. They're 24-30 but tied for 5th in the 10-team PRSL.

Standings:



League News:
August 15: Another 3-homer day, and it's another AL player: this time Ottawa C Shea Langeliers. Through 5 innings, he was 0-2, but homered twice as part of an 8 run sixth and then capped off the game with a 3-run shot in the 8th in a 12-0 win over the Rockies.
August 15: Also another cycle, the ninth of 2023, by Reno 3B John Valente. Valente's hits were important ones too - his 3-run shot in the 3rd gave Reno a 3-0 lead, and after the D'Backs had rallied to take a 9-4 lead, Valente's bases-clearing triple was key in a 5-run 6th that tied the game. They'd eventually win 11-9, with Valente driving in six and completing his cycle in the 8th inning.
August 19: Milwaukee's Michael Conforto becomes the first NL player with 3 HR in a game this season, driving in 5 runs in the Brewers' 7-3 win over the Beacons. More impressive given the fact that Conforto only had four plate appearances on the day.

Players of the Week:
Las Vegas RF Bryce Harper - 15-28, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 8 R
New Mexico 2B Scott Fitzgerald - 15-30, 5 HR, 9 RBI

Power Rankings:
Apparently the other top teams struggled this week, so we rocketed from 5th all the way back up to 1st place in the power rankings!
1. Salt Lake Bees (82-41)
2. Las Vegas Scorpions (85-39)
3. Monarques de Montréal (75-49)
4. Buffalo Beacons (76-47)
5. Sacramento Solons (72-52)
56. Colorado Rockies (45-79)
57. Syracuse Blizzard (51-73)
58. Arizona Diamondbacks (50-74)
59. Texas Rangers (50-74)
60. Boston Red Sox (45-79)

Next Week: Back out on the road for the last full week of August. This week we'll travel to play the Milwaukee Brewers for the first time this season, then head to Reno and El Paso.