Game 77 Recap, Aug. 15: Past the Fence
Behind gem from Abe-Arias, Ballers knock out Coast on Conner Smith homer after 4-4 tie
by Joe Horton
“I knew I had it. But I wanted to see how far it was going to be past the fence.”
More on that later.
The Oakland Ballers (14-15 second half, 36-41 overall) snatched victory from the jaws of victory Saturday afternoon in Long Beach, knocking out the Coast (19-10, 56-21) after a 4-4 regulation tie. It was the B’s third win in the LBC this season and only the Coast’s seventh loss all year at Blair Field.
Ren Abe-Arias, in his second start for the Ballers after his trade from the RedPocket Mobiles, turned in a top pitching performance of the season. (“Top three” was the expert claim on Reddit.) The right-hander finished one out away from a complete game, which would have only been the third in B’s history, and held this explosive Coast lineup in check for almost the entire game. More on that later. Abe-Arias’s final line, and it’s a good one—8.2, eight hits, four runs, five strikeouts—doesn’t tell the full story of a pitcher putting the team on his back until it was their time to carry his outing over the finish line.
Brendan O’Sullivan opened the scoring in the fourth, doubling down the left field line and bringing home Nick Leehey. Said O’Sullivan of starting out the team on the right footing in a crucial game after losing five straight, “Ya it’s been a tough week so far, everyone wants to win and we were able to get it done today behind Ren. We all know what he is capable of because of his start against us and he got in a groove early so it was easy to play behind. Always good to win a close game against a good opponent.”
The 1-0 lead became a 4-0 lead when Oakland did its damage in the fifth inning with two outs. Noah Blythe singled, Jake Allgeyer singled, and Jeter Ybarra doubled home the pair. Leehey then returned the favor, doubling home Ybarra. Cooper Vest scored Spence Coffman for the Coast in the sixth on a fielder’s choice, making it 4-1, but all the coasting seemed to be with Abe-Arias.
In the ninth, with Abe-Arias going over 100 pitches (he finished at 113 for the day), Long Beach managed to string together all the trouble the starter had previously avoided: two hits, two walks, a sacrifice fly. Julio Rosario replaced Abe-Arias needing just one out, and his wild pitch brought home Benjamin Rosengard. Then an unintentional walk to Coffman plated the tying run after Eddy Pelc, the Pioneer League’s Walk King, was intentionally sent strolling the batter before. It was 4-4 and we were headed to a second straight knockout round.
On Friday, the Coast won 1-0 in the extra frame. On Saturday, it was the Ballers’ turn. Manager Aaron Miles selected C Conner Smith to hit, and he put one past the fence on a field that has been allergic to Oakland home runs all season. That one was again enough as Cuba Bess didn’t leave the yard and brought the B’s spilling onto it to celebrate.
Wrote Smith of his big opportunity, “It’s definitely something I’m new to. But when Aaron asked me, I said yes. I knew that my name might be called at some point this season for the KO round. I was just trying to control my breathing and my mind.”
Which brings us all the way back to the start. It was Smith’s first time in the knockout in his first season as a pro. Did he know that homer was gone when he hit it? “I knew I had it. But I wanted to see how far it was going to be past the fence.”
That sounds like confidence to me. “We know we can play with these top teams, it’s just a matter of execution,” added Smith.
The teams play the rubber match tomorrow starting at 1:05pm. Reed Butz comes off the injured list to pitch; his first game back as a Baller this season was also in Long Beach. The Coast will send Jack Martin to the mound.
Odds & Ends
Oakland is now 7-2 in the knockout this season.
Ethan Crawford got his first start as an active Baller at DH.
Despite the teams’ collective firepower, four of Oakland’s nine lowest-scoring games in total runs have been against Long Beach.
Head Groundskeeper Anthony Alejandrez—our photographer on site for this one—is running America’s Finest City Half-Marathon tomorrow in San Diego and you can follow along with his progress here.
Photos from Anthony Alejandrez in Long Beach.
Video animations by Chris Drue.
Joe Horton is the editor of Dispatches from Raimondi.
