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Scoreless through six, the first Titans game began to wage back and forth from the seventh. The Titans scored first, but Johnston and Simon homered back-to-back to turn it 2-1 in the bottom 7th. Jenkins and Wright instantly blew it getting tagged for four runs in the eighth. Raccoons scored two in the bottom 8th, and tied it to go to extra innings. Vazquez held the Titans at bay, before Maloney singled in Simon in the bottom 10th to help the Raccoons walk off 6-5. This made the Raccoons peek above .400 for the first time since April 9, when they had been 2-3!
Game 2 was 5-0 win on home runs only: Sullivan launched a 3-run shot in the third inning and a solo homer in his next plate appearance, and Sánz also solo homered late in the game. Sullivan hit another solo home run in the last game of the series, as the Raccoons swept the Titans to my complete surprise with a 6-3 win!
Here we were, sparkling with enthusiasm. Little did we know about the cold shower awaiting us by the Falcons. The first game was a close 2-1 loss, while the Raccoons led 3-2 in the top 9th. Hatfield blew the save when he surrendered a 2-run home run to Jeff Campbell. The Raccoons loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom 9th – no run came across as Flores struck out and Cook, pinch hitting for Hatfield, grounded to doom two. Oh, the agony. Powell allowed one unearned run in two innings before leaving with a hurt ankle and took the loss as the Raccoons were swept with another loss, 3-0, with pathetic offense throughout the series.
And now the Bayhawks. Winless against them so far, the Raccoons were beaten 7-1 to start the series. Game 2 was a close one. The Raccoons scored one early, but had the game tied in the fourth. Ben Simon homered to make it 2-1 in the seventh, his 20th long ball of the season, before Hatfield had the second save in a row blow up in his face, when everything went against him in the top 9th, including a bunt base hit right there where nobody could get it. Hatfield stayed in until the 13th inning with no rested relievers available anymore (I had burned through three in the seventh to match up the Bayhawks batters…) and took the loss in the 3-2 defeat by San Francisco. In the bottom 12th Hatfield had represented the winning run on second, then third base, but nobody had batted him in. Again, no clutch performers on the team.
The Raccoons scored three runs in the bottom 1st to assist Miranda in the last game. Up 3-1, Miranda was chased after four by rain and would not qualify for the win. The Bayhawks scored one against Vazquez, before Wally Gaston got in the game in the eighth. He was solid in the eighth and with the score still 3-2 entered the ninth. The Bayhawks tied the game and won after 11 innings, 4-3, and thus completed the total annihilation of the Raccoons in 1977, nine games, nine wins for San Francisco.
The Raccoons in turn had lost six in a row since sweeping the Titans. They had a road trip remaining for Indianapolis, Vancover, and New York. Remember the minimalistic goal in there: avoid 100 losses, so that meant to win 3 of 10.
In other news:
September 14 – Alfonso Soriano of the Canadiens goes to 25 games of hitting.
September 17 – The Aces chill Soriano to end his hit streak at 26.
September 19 – 1B Pedro Diaz of the Scorpions has hit in 20 straight games.
September 20 – Diaz’ streak ends by the hand of the Richmond Rebels at 20 games.
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