Game 72 Recap: Brunch Baseball Blues
Ballers drop 9-5 to Freebirds in morning matchup and end win streak at eight
by Joe Horton
Sunday mornings are for sleeping in, brunching, catching up on Dispatches, and watching baseball in Marysville, of course. The game was moved to 11am because of heat expected to reach 105° later in the day; it was near 90° at first pitch. For context, there have only been seven days over 100° in Oakland since the year 2000. (137 days over 90°, if you’re a weatherhead.) It’s a pleasure to live where we do, and it was a pleasure to see some a.m. Ballers baseball, even if they dropped the series finale 9-5, ending their winning streak at eight.
Former RedPocket Mobile Ren Abe-Arias got his first start for Oakland and threw 5.1 with five earned runs, nine hits, and two strikeouts. He let on five of his six first batters and had steady base traffic throughout, but the B’s can likely live with an outing like this as Abe-Arias showed his ability to limit damage.
The Ballers (13-11 second half, 35-37 overall) built a 5-2 advantage but didn’t score again after the fourth inning. Abe-Arias left with the score 5-4 B’s, with one of his runners aboard who later scored. It was a close game the bullpen couldn’t hold, and in the seventh, it all went wrong for the B’s. Two walks, an error plus a nothing-to-be-done bad hop, and three hits gave the Freebirds (6-18, 21-51) four runs in the inning. The 9-5 score would hold up as the final. Oakland left nine on base and had trouble advancing runners in scoring position all day.
There were bright spots on offense. As part of his 3-for-4 day, Mitchell Sanford hit a titanic 408-foot three-run homer in the third that got a great call from Gareth Kwok in the booth: “It’s headed for the lake!” That would be Ellis Lake, behind 14th Street and past the outfield wall at Bryant Field that a well-hit ball could, seeking a new aquatic afterlife, find its way into. “I was mainly seeing pitches up in the zone today, and caught one out in front for the homer,” Sanford wrote to Dispatches after the game. An inning later, Sanford let his glove get the gushes from Gareth. When Freebird Kyle Carlson singled to right field, Christian Castaneda came home from third but was thrown out at the plate by Sanford in right field. “Mitchell Sanford barehanded that ball and then he threw on the fly to home, and [Conner] Smith applied the tag for the out. I have not seen that. Ever!” Gareth said in the booth. Sanford was equally surprised. “The throw out at home was basically just an instinct play that I can’t explain!”
Meanwhile, Logan Johnstone continues his barnburning welcome tour of the Pioneer League, hitting another homer today (his third in three games) in a 4-for-4 effort. Wrote Johnstone of his electric first pro week: “I just am going out there hunting my pitches. I don’t expect good numbers, just a good process. The Pioneer League isn’t quite the SEC but definitely solid competition, and I look to provide whatever the team needs to get to the playoffs!”
Speaking of those playoffs. The Ballers resume on Tuesday at 6:35pm at Raimondi Park, the forecast 74° and perfect, leaving the temperatures of Marysville behind for the heat of the scorching Modesto Roadsters, who are 22-1 in the second half. Oakland is 3-6 against the Roadsters in their last nine meetings; if they want to make a run in the season’s final quarter, they’re going to have to figure out Modesto as no one has yet.
Odds & Ends
The Ballers scored 113 runs during their eight-game win streak (thanks Gareth).
The B’s snapped that eight-game winning streak; the Freebirds snapped their eight-game losing streak.
Long Beach forfeited their game in Kalispell today against the Range Riders. Official word is that the Coast didn’t want to risk playing in the hazardous air caused by wildfires since they had already qualified for the playoffs in the first half. Long Beach is 53-19 overall and 5-5 in their last ten; the 2025 Oakland Ballers modern PBL record was, of course, 73-23.
Photos from Maya Lee and Guy Sliwinski in Marysville.
Video recap from Ben Verhoek.
Joe Horton is the editor of Dispatches from Raimondi.
