Game 18: Near Miss
“On a baseball team, the club is represented by two separate but equally important groups.
The hitters who score runs and the pitchers who prevent them. These are their stories.” - Law & Order, if it were being shot on this road trip in Montana
By Roberto Santiago
GREAT FALLS, MT— On a wet day in Great Falls that saw the game delayed three hours, the Oakland Ballers again looked like two halves of different pictures in a 16-18 loss to Great Falls. The club’s two units remind me of that meme with the two guys on a bus. One is looking out the window on the left and seeing a beautiful, sunny day. The other is looking to the right at a foreboding rock wall. Both are on the same train, going the same direction, but with distinctly different outlooks. So it goes for the Ballers hitters and pitchers.
At this point in the season, an off day is a welcome sight for a beleaguered pitching staff. The starting pitching woes have been well-documented and exacerbated by injuries and promotions: Charlie Hurley and Joel Tornero are on the injury list. Nick Bautista was traded. Gabe Tanner has moved on to White Sox ball. With that, the Ballers have only Aidan Risse and C.J. Blowers left among the starters they sent out during their opening homestand. Michael Riley (0-0) was the latest Oakland hurler unable to give the team the needed innings to rest a weary bullpen that has thrown half of the team’s inning so far this season. Riley went 2.1 innings, giving up 9 runs on 8 hits. It was Riley’s first start as a pro and his third appearance of the year. Three relievers pitched the remaining 5.2 innings, each giving up 3 runs. Derek Murphy, who started against Glacier on Wednesday, put in a solid 3.2 innings. The 6’9” righty from Cal State East Bay kept the Voyagers off the scoreboard in the 4th and 6th innings, giving the Ballers offense a chance to keep up.
And the offense did all they could, fighting back from a 10-5 deficit to tie the game at 12 in the seventh inning, with the top of the order doing damage once again. Tremayne Cobb reached base 4 times, scoring 3 runs. Esai Santos ended up a single short of hitting for the cycle on a day when he hit his third triple in two days and collected 4 RBI. Catcher Jaden Collura and OF Noah Blythe each had 3 hits and 2 RBI to help the cause.
Down 18-12 in the ninth, the Ballers mounted a furious comeback. The team willed their way to 4 unearned runs courtesy of an error by the Voyagers’ Will Rogers and three-run home run from Jake Allgeyer. Even with everything they had surrendered to that point, Oakland had the tying run at the plate with two outs in the uniform of Noah Blythe. For one heartstopping moment it looked like Blythe would tie the game and send the visitors on with a chance to play a knockout round. Blythe hit a towering drive that sent Great Falls centerfielder Anthony Manisero racing to the wall where he made a leaping catch to end the game.
The game was a microcosm of the season so far for Oakland, a club that can hit and play defense but is too often undone by walks and hit batters while in the field. Aaron Miles and his coaches have an off day on Monday to regroup and figure out how to get their arms to play up to their potential. The Paddleheads are up next; Missoula gave the B’s fits last season and at the start of this one, and they just swept the Glacier Range Riders in Kalispell, the same Riders who swept the Ballers. Reporters and fans always love to call something make-or-break, but this upcoming six game series sure feels like it for the first half of the season.
Odds and Ends:
Great Falls leads the league in stolen bases and swiped 11 in the three game set without being caught.
The Voyagers’ Eumir Sepulveda (W, 2-0) was the only pitcher of the day to not give up any runs.
While Santos did not get the single needed for the cycle, he did end up on first base after being hit by a pitch in the ninth. This will now be forever referred to as an Esai-cle.
Make sure to check Dispatches reporter Mike Chouinard’s ratings (food, vibes, entertainment) of Centene Stadium on his Instagram story today.
The Ballers next game will be tomorrow, Tuesday, in Missoula. First pitch at 5:35 PM Pacific.
Photos from Great Falls by Mike Chouinard.
Roberto Santiago is a third generation Berkeley boy currently raising the fourth generation. Roberto’s writing has appeared in Latina, Parents, and various online outlets. A lifelong baseball fan, Roberto worked briefly with the Boston Red Sox and once hit an RBI single off Spaceman Lee on a 2-2 changeup. It was his only at bat ever in a real baseball game. Find him on Instagram.
