[Ruwisc]

Week 20: August 7-13, 2023



August 7-8: Bees (74-37) @ Omaha Thunder (48-63)
When we last saw the Thunder, we were withstanding their comeback bid in Omaha on April 2 - we won to improve to 5-3. (They haven't come to the Hive yet, but we'll see them there next week.) An awful lot has happened since then - this is a team that's spent a lot of the last couple months struggling, and is in danger for the first last-place finish in franchise history. They've been torn apart by injury lately - pitchers Trevor Cahill and Chris Stratton are out, as are DJ LeMahieu, Nick Senzel and Francisco Cervelli.

Game 1 - Ray Gaither (3-1, 4.14) vs. Destin Dotson (0-0, 9.64)
SLC: CF Mesa, C Cottam, 3B Guerrero, RF Robles, 1B Ishihara, 2B Phyo, LF Gamel, SS Mota, P Gaither
OMA: 2B Santiago, RF Ellis, SS Anderson, CF Witherspoon, LF Hillman, 1B Trejo, C Oliver, 3B Rogers, P Dotson

Still some decent hitters in this lineup even without their injured players - the Thunder's struggles are more on the mound. Dotson opened the year in the big league bullpen and made his debut then, but went down to get stretched out to start, apparently. His first major league start was last Tuesday in Louisville, where he labored and didn't finish the 3rd inning, but allowed just 1 earned run and got a no-decision... Gaither is making his ninth start and we've won 7 of the previous 8... both pitchers started out really well. Both teams had just a single hit in the first two innings... Mota led off the 3rd with a hit and moved up on a sac bunt by Gaither. It wouldn't matter where he was standing, though - Victor Mesa went up and out to give us a 2-0 lead! It's just his 9th home run but 3rd in the last two days... two pitches later, Cottam made it back-to-back jacks and it was 3-0... in the 4th inning, Grant Witherspoon took Gaither deep to get the Thunder on the board. Adam Hillman then singled, went to 2nd on a wild pitch, then scored on Cesar Trejo's hit... Dotson went just 4.1 innings, leaving with 2 men on base, but Danny Barajas got out of the jam... in the 5th, Omaha took the lead. First tying it on a Jason Rogers HR, then an RBI double from Duke Ellis... we had 5 hits in the final 5 innings, which might have been fine if it hadn't been spread out 1 each... Omaha broke the game open in the seventh. Witherspoon singled home Tim Anderson, Hillman had an RBI triple and Trejo had an RBI single. Suddenly 7-3... Glenn Santiago homered in the 8th to provide their final scoring, and Guerrero homered in the 9th to make the final score a bit more respectable.


W: Danny Barajas (1-0) L: Ray Gaither (3-2)
PotG: Grant Witherspoon

Game 2 - Will Shirah (7-6, 4.67) vs. Zack Wheeler (8-4, 4.25)
SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, C Cottam, LF Gamel, 2B Maezes, P Shirah, CF Tilson
OMA: 2B Santiago, RF Ellis, SS Anderson, CF Witherspoon, LF Hillman, 1B Trejo, C Oliver, 3B Rogers, P Wheeler

Wheeler is the lone Omaha starter with a winning record, and probably the staff ace despite being... above average, I guess? Last time out he beat the Brewers, throwing six shutout innings in a 5-1 win but laboring through those innings on a high pitch count... Will Shirah still hasn't picked up a win since late June, and has actually slid down the hitting depth chart as well it seems, ceding most of the starts in left to Gamel... A quick two-out rally got us on the board. Guerrero blooped a single into left-center, and then Ishihara hit a fly ball high in the air to left field that just got out, 2-0 Bees... it wouldn't last though. Also with two outs and a man on, Witherspoon tied the game with a home run of his own, and Adam Hillman went back-to-back to make it 3-2 in the first... they made it 4-2 in the 2nd in a different way. Two singles ahead of Wheeler's sacrifice bunt allowed a run to score on Santiago's grounder... in the 3rd, with Robles on second and Guerrero at first, we pulled off a double steal! That meant both runs would score on Cottam's base hit, tying the game... an unearned run came in in the bottom half. Guerrero let a popup drop allowing Tim Anderson to reach. When Witherspoon doubled to put men on second and third with no outs, he pulled up and had to coast into second base. No real report on his injury at the moment, but we're gonna see the Thunder again next week so it could be good news... Cesar Trejo converted one of those men into a run with another RBI groundout... Shirah was done after three innings, but I'm not sure why - he didn't pitch well but it wasn't mega-awful. 5 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), no walks over 3, and only 64 pitches thrown? Would probably have stretched him out to 5 innings myself... Shane Watson threw the 4th and 5th instead, though, and allowed one run in that time, an RBI hit for Hunter Oliver... we got back to a 1-run deficit in the 6th on a solo home run by Maezes, his 17th... the bullpens of both teams seemed to settle down what had been a roughish day for the starters. Holder managed to pitch two scoreless innings for us despite allowing four hits, and Bennerman had a scoreless eighth, but that was all matched by Omaha's Heath Hawkins and Ruben Chavez... now Tommy Rowley on for the save, still a 6-5 game. It'll be 9-1-2 for us - Tilson, Mota, Robles, Guerrero if anyone reaches... Tilson hits a long fly ball to left, and the wind is pointing that way, but the rain knocks it down enough that it dies on the track... Mota goes down swinging, but Robles smashes one back up the box to keep us alive. Guerrero, though, hits a lazy fly to left and it's all over.


W: Zack Wheeler (9-4) L: Will Shirah (7-7) S: Tommy Rowley (1)
PotG: Grant Witherspoon

Yuck. On to Miami.

August 9-10: Bees (74-39) @ Miami Marlins (60-54)
The Fish have been a pretty successful franchise overall, so it's not surprising that they're keeping afloat despite being predicted to not do that well this season. This year, it's not too hard to pinpoint their big strength - dingers, baybee! 1B Greyson Jenista and 3B Drew Mendoza are both on pace for 40+ bombs, and it's supplemented by a bunch of players in the 10-15 range so far (so 18-25 for the season). They also rarely strike out, which seems incongruous. We split a pair of games at The Hive back in April, and here's our return trip.

Game 1 - Jose Quintana (13-5, 2.59) vs. Jason Guse (2-2, 3.55)
SLC: SS Mota, 1B Ishihara, 3B Guerrero, RF Shirah, CF Mesa, LF Gamel, C Cottam, 2B Phyo, P Quintana
MIA: 2B McLain, CF Halpin, 3B Mendoza, 1B Jenista, SS Boyd, RF Hicks, C Jeffers, LF Goss, P Guse

Guse is a rookie making just his 7th major league start, and his first since before the All-Star Break. He's been down with the AAA team in Pensacola. His last MLB game was an unlucky loss in Louisville in early July, where he was tagged with four unearned runs... Q has allowed a total of two earned runs in his last 4 starts, but still managed to lose a game over that period... we managed to waste a two-on, one-out opportunity in the 1st, but our worries would fly away soon enough. Two hits and a 4-pitch walk loaded the bases in the 2nd for us, and Quintana's strikeout couldn't dampen our spirits. Mota hit a smash through the left side to get 1 run home, and a batter later, now with two outs, Guerrero destroyed a pitch down the line in left field for a grand slam! 5-0 just like that... Miami scored 1 in the 2nd on a sac fly from Daniel Goss... Mesa and Gamel reached to start the third, and that was all for Guse. A rough day for the young man... New pitcher Zack Phillips got Cottam and Q to strike out, but walked Phyo in between, and then walked Mota to force in a run. Ishihara next, and bang! That ball is crushed down the right-field line, an absolute moon shot and our second grand slam in as many innings! It's 10-1! Things really settled down after that. We added one more in the 4th on consecutive doubles from Mesa and Gamel, and actually loaded the bases again, but a third grand salami was not to be... Quintana really got into a groove from there. Leadoff man McLain had a couple of hits in the middle innings but the rest of the team was kept off the bases... we got another run in the 7th thanks to an error by Mendoza at 3B... Quintana would've gotten through the 7th if not for his own error, not fielding a ground ball cleanly, but he instead exits after 6.2 innings with just 1 run allowed. Paul Goodwin had a bit of a meltdown in the 8th, conceding 4 runs, but this is the time to screw up, really. No sweat for Wendelken finishing out the game.


W: Jose Quintana (14-5) L: Jason Guse (2-3)
PotG: Morio Ishihara

Not as close a game as the score would indicate.

Game 2 - Jack Flaherty (12-7, 3.65) vs. Justin Jacome (0-6, 5.75)
SLC: CF Mesa, 3B Guerrero, RF Robles, 2B Phyo, 1B Ishihara, SS Mota, LF Granite, C Ackerman, P Flaherty
MIA: CF Halpin, 2B McLain, 3B Mendoza, 1B Jenista, SS Boyd, LF Goss, RF Williams, C Bess, P Jacome

Jacome was a real-life Marlins draft pick back in 2015 from UC Santa Barbara, but was cut loose and didn't play affiliated ball in 2017. Despite that, the Marlins saw fit to draft him in the 2018 fantasy draft and he was part of the major league bullpen later that season. Made the move to the rotation in 2021 and pitched pretty well, putting up a combined 24-21 in '21-'22 with an ERA under 4 in both years. This year, though, is a disaster. Jacome missed the first two months with a forearm injury and has come back pretty bad... Jack pitched OK in our last game, but the offense didn't pick him up and he landed an L in Montréal... both teams had two on with no out in the 1st and it was them who cashed in. Jason Boyd delivered an RBI single though we avoided further damage... Jacome had some shaky moments, but through the first few innings always managed to come up with the right pitch... Flaherty got out of a big jam with runners on 2nd and 3rd, one out in the fourth, getting two popups... we finally got on the board in the sixth with three singles, Granite's scoring Robles to tie the game 1-1... both pitchers exited at the same moment - Flaherty was pinch-hit for leading off the 7th, as Brad Boxberger was warming up to replace Jacome... after the stretch, Sam Bennerman came in and threw a frustrating inning, allowing two two-out walks, the latter with the bases loaded, to give Miami the 2-1 lead... Felipe Vazquez escaped a bases-loaded jam of his own in the 8th... now, the 9th, with Miami's closer Julian Fernandez on to face our 6-7-8... Mota slaps a single into left and we're in business, maybe? Then the first pitch to Granite leaks through catcher Cuba Bess for a passed ball to put the tying run in scoring position... Granite hits a ball into the left-center field gap, but a spectacular catch by CF Petey Halpin saves a run. Mota is able to get back, tag and reach third... Shirah comes in to pinch-hit for Ackerman, and fights for several pitches but strikes out, and it's now up to Cottam, hitting in the pitcher's spot... first pitch is letter-high and smoked into left for a game-tying single! There we go! Mesa then smokes a ball that's a hit in a lot of places on the field but hits it right at the right fielder. Gotta try to hold 'em and get to extras... much easier for us in the bottom half. Why doesn't every team just have their closer strike out the side, like Jared Miller did? That makes it much easier... in the tenth, Guerrero starts things with a double into the gap, and they choose to intentionally walk Robles. Phyo hits a hard ground ball to first, and it's a nice play by Jenista to even get one out... They then intentionally walk Ishihara as well to reach Mota, who just scored the tying run last inning... they go get a lefty, Jim Bruno, just to face him - and Luis takes his first pitch right back up the box for a two-run single! Huge! Next up is Granite, who hits a ball that ought to have been a 4-6-3 DP, but a slow turn by the shortstop Boyd keeps the inning alive... important that that happened as well, since before Maezes struck out, Ishihara came in to score on a wild pitch... Nolan Blackwood allowed an unearned run in his inning, thanks to Mota's error, but we can forgive Luis this once.


W: Jared Miller (2-4) L: Julian Fernandez (2-8) S: Nolan Blackwood (3)
PotG: Jack Flaherty

Big-time comeback for these guys, with Luis Mota especially the hero today. Time to get back home, and enjoy our Friday off day before this weekend series!

August 12-13: Bees (76-39) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (55-61)
The Phils have been torn apart by injury, resulting in a pretty poor rotation. Ace Jon Jefferson has missed the entire season to date, and will not make his 2023 debut until the end of this month. But Philadelphia is also without Jameson Taillon and Kyle Gibson for the remainder of this season, so this 2023 outfit is pretty spent. They're coming in from Buffalo, where they just lost a heartbreaker on Friday, tying the game in the top of the ninth only to lose it in the bottom.

Game 1 - Joey Lucchesi (12-4, 3.85) vs. Trysten Barlow (1-1, 5.46)
PHI: CF Tawa, 3B Diaz, SS Russell, 2B Reid, RF Polanco, 1B Stassi, C Jolly, LF Paroubeck, P Barlow
SLC: CF Mesa, C Cottam, 3B Guerrero, RF Robles, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, 2B Phyo, SS Mota, P Lucchesi

Barlow hadn't been starting in AAA, coming out of the bullpen in Reading, but was called upon to re-enter the big league rotation recently. Last Sunday, he came back up to make a start against the Blackbirds, and did alright, allowing 4 runs over 5 innings, just enough for Philly to make a late comeback and give him a no-decision... Joey had his string of four straight wins snapped Sunday in Montréal, but avoided getting the loss due to Mesa's ninth-inning grand slam that won the game... Lucchesi walked two in the first inning but avoided damage... in the bottom of the 1st, Mesa singled, stole 2nd and scored on a hit by Robles... in the 2nd, Lucchesi was burned. The pitcher Barlow had a two-out single to keep the inning alive, and Tim Tawa followed with his 13th home run, a 3-run shot to give Philly a 3-1 lead... Jordan Paroubeck homered the next inning to make it 4-1, and Tawa scored another run in that inning on a single by Addison Russell... Lucchesi exited after the 4th inning... in our half of the fourth, Phyo and Mota each singled, moved up on a sac bunt, and scored on Mesa's hit to get us back to within two at 5-3... not much doing in the rest of the middle innings... Barlow exited after 6, allowing 3 runs on 9 hits and in line for a W... meanwhile, our long guys, Shane Watson and Zeke Young, each tossed two scoreless innings. They've each had their troubles at the MLB level so good news there... then the fireworks began. Shirah began the 8th with a single off Steve Erickson, and Phyo worked a long count that became a walk. Mota smashed a ball to left that Paroubeck couldn't quite get to, but too hard to score Shirah. We now have the potential winning run on base with nobody out. Next the pitcher's spot, and Tilson comes up to pinch hit... a ball hit into the gap! It's run down impressively by Tawa, who prevents the tying run from trying to score, but we still have the bases loaded... they go for a pitching change. Out comes the lefty Andrew Baker, strange because our next three hitters are righties and we just had the lefties Mota and Tilson up, but ok. Baker can't find the zone, and finally drops one in on Mesa with a 3-0 count, but walks him on the next pitch! Tie game! Now Cottam comes up, and he hits the first pitch out to deep right center! It's a grand slam!!! The Bees lead 9-5!!! After that, as things so often do, they calmed down. We would actually have two more baserunners in the inning but no more runs. Now the 9th, and Sam Bennerman gets the ball. Russell singles leading off, though he gets the next two out. Brock Stassi doubles over Mesa's head, and Matheny goes out to make a pitching change. Miller then proceeds to completely throw this game away, all the while being one pitch away from finishing the whole thing off. Robert Jolly drives in one with a single, 9-6. Paroubeck doubles, scoring one more and putting the tying runs in scoring position, 9-7. A wild pitch scores Jolly, and a double by pinch-hitter Zack Cozart scores Paroubeck. It's all gone, 9-9... To rub it in, Tim Tawa hits a line shot into the left-field corner that sneaks over the wall for a home run, 11-9. The Phils have answered our six with a six of their own... closer Noah Song then struck out the side to win the game.


W: Jorge Lopez (2-2) L: Jared Miller (2-5) S: Noah Song (20)
PotG: Tim Tawa

One of the worst losses I've ever personally had, at least regular season edition. We did, after all, manage to blow a 3-run lead in the 9th inning of WS Game 7 back in 2019. I actually quit the game right after this happened and took a couple days away from OOTP because it so frustrated me & I didn't even want to write up the above paragraph.

Anyway, all we can do is go on to Sunday:

Game 2 - Ray Gaither (3-2, 4.44) vs. Luis Cruz (8-8, 4.00)
PHI: CF Tawa, SS Russell, RF Polanco, LF Fagg, 2B Reid, 3B Diaz, 1B Stassi, C Herrmann, P Cruz
SLC: CF Mesa, C Cottam, 3B Guerrero, RF Robles, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, 2B Phyo, SS Mota, P Gaither

We beat Cruz back on April 14 in Philadelphia, a 14-3 win. In that game he gave up six runs and didn't get out of the 3rd inning. In that game, Travis Maezes came a home run short of the cycle despite not starting (Phyo left that game via minor injury). Since then, Cruz has really turned his year around, and 4.00 is the low water mark for his ERA this season. He hasn't lost since before the All-Star Break... Ray was OK on Monday in Omaha, but not good enough, and he took the L... Tawa's encore from last night was to lead off the game with a double into the gap, and Bees fans felt their hearts sink, but he would be stranded on third... in the bottom half, Cottam had a more impactful encore, going deep for the second straight at bat, and with Mesa aboard, to make it 2-0! We squandered another opportunity in the 2nd, leaving two in scoring position... Gaither seemed to settle down, allowing just 1 hit over the next three innings... Philly got on the board in the 5th on a Brock Stassi triple and Chris Herrmann RBI single... Cruz had also settled down, facing the minimum from the 3rd-5th... in the 6th, Gregory Polanco drew a 1-out walk, and Jaxxon Fagg went up and out on the next pitch. That's a 2-1 lead becoming a 3-2 deficit... Cruz threw 6 innings, and Gaither 7, each leaving while the game was 3-2... Vazquez pitched a scoreless 8th, and Bennerman bounced back from yesterday's disaster with a scoreless ninth... Jose Ramirez is on for the save, not Noah Song. If the 21-year-old closes it out, it'll be his first save as a pro... first Shirah, and he walks on four pitches, none particularly close. That's the tying run on... Phyo smacks an 0-1 pitch right back up the box to give us runners at the corners with no out, and I'm suddenly smelling 9th-inning magic again. Now Mota... with the infield in, he hits a chopper that's still too slow to do anything with! Yandy Diaz has to just swallow it and Shirah scampers home with the tying run! Up next is Tilson... and he walks on five pitches to load the bases! Still no one out, and the Philly manager has to go take the ball from Ramirez. Tanner Burns will be tasked with saving the Philly bacon against Mesa. First pitch is low... second pitch is low... third pitch is low... the crowd is deafening as Burns pumps one down the middle to get to 3-1... and the next pitch is low for ball four! That's the game!


W: Sam Bennerman (7-3) L: Jose Ramirez (2-1)
PotG: Ray Gaither

What a dramatic series! My lil heart can't take any more. In that case, I'll take the split.

Bees' Player of the Week:
C Kole Cottam: 8-21, 3 HR, 10 RBI

On the Leaderboard:
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: 8th in average (.332), 4th in RBI (103), 9th in OPS (.933), 4th in hits (160), 6th in total bases (258)
Morio Ishihara: 8th in HR (29), T-2nd in RBI (105), 8th in slugging (.563), 5th in OPS (.959), 9th in runs (90), 5th in total bases (260)
Victor Robles: 2nd in doubles (32)
Victor Victor Mesa: T-1st in triples (11)
Charlie Tilson: T-1st in triples (11)
Jose Quintana: 1st in ERA (2.54), 1st in wins (14), 1st in WAR (6.3), 1st in innings (173.1), 1st in CG (4), T-1st in SHO (2), 2nd in K (179), 7th in K/BB (4.3), 3rd in WHIP (1.11), 1st in FIP (2.97), 1st in QS (20)
Jack Flaherty: T-3rd in wins (12), 4th in WAR (3.8), 4th in innings (149), 8th in K/BB (4.3), 6th in BB/9 (1.9), 9th in FIP (3.93), 2nd in QS (17)
Joey Lucchesi: T-3rd in wins (12)
Jared Miller: 7th in Sv% (24/27, 89%)

Minor League Bees:
AAA Hawaii was 5-2, winning series against Tacoma (Mariners) and Colorado Springs (Rockies). They're 5 GB of Hollywood in the PCL Pacific.
AA Cedar City was 3-4 on their road trip, splitting 4 games against Logan (Beavers) but losing 2 of 3 at Havasu (Marshals). Still 2nd in the Desert League, miles behind Grand Junction (Oilers).
A Burlington lost every game this week, 0-6. The Lil' Bees now just find themselves in 4th in the MWL West, 7 games behind Southern Illinois (Lions).
The AZL Bees were 1-5 on the week, losing series against West Texas and the Angels, and are just 19-30.
And the PRSL Bees were 4-2, losing a series to Philadelphia but sweeping the Orioles. This squad is in a tie for 5th in the 10-team PRSL, but 13 games behind the Phils.

Standings:



League News:
August 7: San Bernardino explodes for 21 runs, including 7 homers, in a 21-9 romp at Nashville. All three of the 66ers' superstar outfield (Andrew Benintendi, Andres de la Torre, Juan Soto) went deep on the day.
August 8: Tigers 3B Manny Machado had three home runs and drove in 4 in Tuesday's 6-3 win over the Navigators. After only seeing one 3-homer game in the first few months of the season, we've now had 3 in quick succession.
August 9: Indianapolis RF Jake Mangum hits for the cycle in a 9-6 win over Cleveland. He left it late and his hits were meaningful - his 6th-inning HR gave the Rounders the lead, and his triple to finish the cycle eventually became a big insurance run.
August 11: Another 3-homer game, this time for Nashville's Jonathan Engelmann against the Scorpions. Nashville actually had 7 home runs in this game, accounting for all 9 of their runs in a 9-8 victory. Engelmann's third bomb, a 3-run blast, was the only non-solo shot, and it tied the game at 6 in the seventh inning. We still have not seen a National League player hit 3 HR this season, but now ALers have done it five times. No Bees player has hit 3 HR in a game since 2019, when Ryon Healy did it against the Colts in a series-clinching playoff game, and the only Bee to do so in a regular-season game is, of all people, Franklin Gutierrez back in the first month of the inaugural 2018 season.
August 12: Navigators SP Alex Wood is done for the season, and the start of 2024, with a torn flexor tendon, torn in Thursday's win over Oklahoma.
August 12: On a day where we scored 6 runs in the 8th only to allow 6 in the 9th, we didn't even have the wildest game. A meaningless matchup between the Oaks and Blackbirds in El Paso ended 16-15 in 11 innings. After the Oaks scored 9 runs in the 6th to take a 11-5 lead, West Texas scored two in the 6th and 5 in the 7th, which tied the game 12-12. It went to the 11th at that score, and Hartford came up with 3 on RBIs from Michael Berglund and John Aiello, before WTX came back with a bases-clearing double by Nick Torres off the bench to tie the game, followed by a walk-off error when Trevor Story threw a ground ball into the seats to award Torres home plate.
August 12: Another fascinating game on Saturday sees the Dodgers beat the Padres 1-0 in 12 innings. There were a grand total of 3 hits per side, and two of LA's were recorded by starting pitcher Bryce Osmond. The Dodgers' winning rally in the 12th happened without a hit, on 3 walks and a sac fly.
August 13: Rays RF Steve Eads had been working on the season's longest hitting streak of 29 games, but it was snapped Sunday in a loss to lowly Colorado. Teammate Jose Altuve will have to take the mantle, as his 20-game streak is now the league's longest.

Players of the Week:
Nashville RF Jonathan Engelmann - 9-18, 5 HR, 9 RBI
San Antonio 3B Brody Wofford - 13-24, 1 HR, 7 RBI

Power Rankings:
With our 3-3 week, we were bound to drop off a bit, and we did. Last week we were 3rd, but now we're 5th.
1. Las Vegas Scorpions (81-37)
2. Columbus Explorers (71-47)
3. Buffalo Beacons (72-44)
4. Ottawa Lynx (74-44)
5. Salt Lake Bees (77-40)
56. Reno Silver Sox (45-72)
57. Chicago White Sox (58-60)
58. Norfolk Navigators (48-70)
59. Colorado Rockies (41-76)
60. Cleveland Indians (45-73)

Next Week: this'll be an 8-game homestand, and next time we'll do the six remaining games of it, against the Colts, Marshals and Thunder.