Game 2 Recap: McKenzie Saves the Day
by Roberto Santiago
On a night when last year’s championship rings and fan bling were abundant, the starting pitching struggled again, T.J. McKenzie was clutch for the Ballers, helping to win a game that might otherwise have slipped away.
If you didn’t know him as a returning player, McKenzie joined the Ballers late last season making his debut on August 27th. In eight regular season games, McKenzie slashed .158/.360/.316 with one home run. However, he saved the season in Game Three of the Ballers’ first round playoff series against the Ogden Raptors when he came home from second on the front end of a double steal for the only run of the game. For his 2026 season debut, he did what Nuke LaLoosh desired; he announced his presence with authority.
Starters Struggle
The Ballers used a small ball approach to stake the team to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, scoring on a single, wild pitch, and two fielder’s choice plays to plate leadoff man Tremayne Cobb. The lead was short-lived as Oakland starter Aidan Risse gave up 6 runs on 7 hits and exited after three innings. Regarding the performance of the starters in the first two games, pitching coach Jim Dedrick noted, “Our park’s tough to pitch in the first few innings. Short park with the wind blowing out.” That, coupled with the starters getting behind in counts and becoming predictable, has led to Missoula scoring early and often in these first two games. While the starters have struggled so far, the bullpen has been as expected. Liam Rocha relieved Risse in the fourth and pitched 3 innings of 2-hit, 2-run (1 earned) ball, earning the win. Langston Burkett and Braydon Nelson combined for three shutout innings to seal it.
“Get Back to Work”
After a tough third inning that saw the Ballers down 6-1, the dugout could be heard encouraging the team to “Get back to work!” as they came off the field. And they did. McKenzie got involved first, scoring on a Jeter Ybarra single. Then it looked like Noah Blythe might be the story of the night when his 3-run homer got the Ballers back within a run.
But Missoula stretched their lead with 2 runs in the top of the fourth to make it 8-5, then McKenzie started his run. He hit a solo home run in the bottom half of the inning to make it 8-6. In the bottom of the fifth, with the score now 8-8, McKenzie hit a 3-run home run for the lead. After shutdown innings by Rocha and Burkett, McKenzie, hitting out of the nine hole, put the game out of reach with a two-run shot, capping his three home run night. It was the second time in his life he’d hit three home runs in a game, the first coming late last year prior to his signing with the Ballers.
Asked what he was seeing from the Paddleheads pitchers, McKenzie said he saw, “A little bit of everything. Fastball away [first home run], fastball low and in [second home run], and a slider [third home run].”
And what’s the best part of being a late season addition, a playoff savior, and now coming back to play a full campaign with the defending champs? “Definitely being around these fans from the jump. It’s a family atmosphere here in The Town. I just love that.”
“I Can Get You a Rain Out”
This was one of the longest nine-inning games any fan in attendance could readily recall, reaching nearly four hours. The teams combined for 21 hits, 15 walks and 21 runs. In the end, even the ghost of Ernie Raimondi was ready to call it a night. Early in the top of the ninth inning with a runner on base for Missoula, the sprinklers came on. The players, seemed unaffected, barely moved from their positions. Coach Dedrick was ready to bring towels out to the mound but was waived off by the pitcher. Multiple fans started quoting Crash Davis’s line from Bull Durham.
Odds & Ends
The Ballers were victims of two unusual umpiring decisions.
In the top of the third with two on and no outs, the Ballers challenged a called ball four on a 3-2 count against Missoula batter Will Bermudez. During the challenge, it was determined that the pitch was a ball, but that Bermudez had also swung. The umpires gathered to discuss the call and ultimately ruled that the Ballers had lost the challenge and awarded Bermudez first base. Coach Dedrick’s analysis: “It doesn’t make sense to me because the challenge wouldn’t have happened if they would have originally made the call on the check swing. The strike had already happened before the call of a ball.” The next batter grounded into a double play, which could have gotten Oakland out of the inning unscathed. Instead, Missoula went on to score four runs.
Later, with the score tied at 8 in the fifth inning, Nick Leehey hit an apparent double. However, he was sent back to first base when the umpires ruled that there had been a pitch clock violation prior to the hit, resulting in an automatic walk. Nick Poss followed with another base on balls making the whole thing a (sprinkler?) wash in the end.
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.
