Game 74 Recap: Strange Happenings
Modesto protests the game with an 11-2 lead, wins 15-4 in an odd night
by Michael Thompson
WEST OAKLAND—Modesto’s Lucas Terilli set the tone for a strange evening by leading off the game with the first home run of his professional career, but that would be far from the most peculiar occurrence of the night.
Not at all peculiar: The red-hot Roadsters jumping out to an early advantage.
Oakland starter Griffin Smith surrendered a second home run in the opening frame, a three-run shot from first baseman Bryce Cannon, and Modesto ended the top half of the first with a 4-0 lead. The Roadsters’ starter, Corbin Talley, sent the first three Ballers down in order in a crisp start to his outing.
In the second, Smith surrendered another home run, two-run drive to center field by second baseman Logan Sutter. Jeter Ybarra singled for Oakland, but Talley retired the next three, ending the second with his team holding a 6-0 lead that looked prime to mature into a rout.
Become a rout it did. Terilli, already batting for his third time of the night, hit his second home run of the game and career on a 2-2 pitch from Smith. A murmur from the more astute fans in the stands verberated across Raimondi Park; a look at the scoreboard showed that Terilli is the (literally) walking definition of an on-base hitter, boasting a .483 OBP buoyed by a gargantuan 23% walk rate. The rookie Terilli, though, had hit no home runs in his first 114 plate appearances as a professional. He now had two in his first three plate appearances of the night.
Sutter piled on with his second homer of the night on the very next pitch, chasing Smith out of the game with an outing he’d rather forget; 2.1IP, 8H, 5BB, and 9ER in 89 pitches. His replacement, the usually-stoic Brady Chavez, did him no favors by throwing a pickoff to a vacant first base, scoring Modesto’s tenth run of the night.
Nights like this will happen against a good team like the 25-1-in-the-second-half Roadsters, a fact that manager Aaron Miles is well aware of: “If you throw one more loss on it, maybe [the players will] have a meeting, but, you know, they know what they got to do. Obviously, we’re playing a very good team.”
Talley and the Roadsters played like a team deserving of an opposing manager’s respect, retiring the Ballers in order before a loud Kingston Liniak homer made the game 11-0. Oakland’s Noah Blythe hit a home run of his own put Oakland’s first two runs on the board, runs which apparently greatly threatened Roadsters manager JT Snow.
In the top of the fifth, Tyler Williams stole second base on a called strike. Cannon, at the plate, challenged the pitch and it was reversed to a ball. Home plate umpire Brian Kline demanded that Williams return to first, a decision that outraged Snow.
Snow popped out of the dugout to debate Kline, who stuck with his decision. The argument quickly reached a point of being tedious; the PA system at Raimondi Park played a single line from “Let it Snow,” earning a chuckle from most of the crowd. Also amusing was Modesto’s decision to play the remainder of the game under protest, which subjected them to ridicule from Oakland’s louder fans for the remainder of the game.
Ballers players were less good-natured about the delay, as catcher Conner Smith told Dispatches: “Honestly, we waited for four or five minutes and in reality, we’re down nine or ten runs. I mean, I’d rather just get the game going. Keep it moving in there.”
Smith certainly took his frustration out on the baseball, smacking a huge home run to left field in the following half-inning. A Brendan O’Sullivan single added another run for Oakland.
Modesto added a few more runs late to put the game well out of reach, eventually cruising to a 15-4 victory. After the early offensive barrage, the remainder of the action within the foul lines was uneventful, with the only real drama reverberating from the protest over the overturned call. With the Roadsters already firmly in control, the protest did little to change the outcome, but it made for a very strange night at Raimondi Park.
The Ballers ended the night 35-39 on the season and an even 13-13 in the second half, while the scorching-hot Roadsters emerged with a 52-22 season record and 25-1 second half tally.
A pretty good visual analogy for today’s game, minus the protest.
Odds and Ends
Even Ballers co-founder Bryan Carmel can’t resist a good chicken tender (or two). Late in the game, he took a couple from an unattended ballboy’s tray. He made up for his lapse in self-control, though, bringing two new tenders from the Ballers Bar to replenish the stolen stash.
Former Baller Kelsie Whitmore hit three home runs for the San Francisco Firebells of the Women’s Professional Baseball League in an 8-2 win over the Los Angeles Queens. Beat LA!
Shortly after Snow and Kline’s argument, fireworks went off a few blocks away from the left-field fence. A fan in the 1st base seats suggested it was Snow blowing off some steam.
Video recap by Ben Verhoek.
Michael Thompson is a Bay Area student entering his senior year of high school. He writes about MLB and other baseball leagues on his Substack, as well as for Dispatches. After high school, he plans to attend college and work in the sports industry.
