Game 78 Recap, Aug 16: It’s Always Nice to Win Against One of the Best Teams in the League
Butz and Blythe Buoy B’s, Beat Beach 4-3
by Joe Horton
The Oakland Ballers (15-15 second half, 37-41 overall) took two of three from the Long Beach Coast (19-11, 56-22) in Southern California, coming ever-so-close to a sweep. Not only did the B’s show they can hang with the league’s best, they showed they can win close: the first two games went to the knockout, and Sunday came down to the last pitch in the bottom of the ninth. It’s a narrow and winding path to the playoffs, but Oakland is still on it.
Early leads and solid starting pitching are the obvious recipe for any successful team, but none more so than these Ballers. The defense gets better—just ask Nick Leehey’s play-of-the-year candidate—and the hitting timelier. The bullpen, as we’ll see, takes special note of an inherited good start.
In the second, TJ Rogers walked and Ethan Crawford had his first hit as a Baller, setting the scene for Noah Blythe to hit a huge homer off Brett Wozniak to left center. It was the B’s first regulation homer this series and only their second in their past three series in the LBC. It was 3-0 Ballers after two.
Wrote Blythe of his homer after the game, “I was happy to be able to contribute for the team there. Just wanted to hit the ball hard and luckily it went over.” Especially welcome for Blythe, who calls Santa Clarita home and had family and friends in attendance as usual in Long Beach.
After Gary Grosjean replaced Wozniak in the top of the third, it became a true bullpen game for the Coast, and long reliever Grosjean sat down his first nine Ballers. Long Beach scraped one run back on an Emilio Corona sacrifice fly in the fifth, but in the sixth, Jeter Ybarra drew a walk and then advanced on a wild pitch. Brendan O’Sullivan bunted him over to third, and pinch hitter Logan Johnstone brought him home with a single that darted between first and second. It was 4-1 Oakland.
Reed Butz, who rejoined the team this season during their July 14-16 visit to Long Beach (first acting as the team’s ballboy) and had his first returning start here, continued his command of the Coast. He went 6.0, giving up just one run on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Butz has been one of the B’s most consistent weapons against this potent lineup; he’s got a 3.52 ERA in 15.1 innings pitched against Long Beach (thanks Gareth).
After league walks leader Eddy Pelc came off the bench in the seventh and—you’ll be shocked, shocked, to find out—drew a walk, Butz’s day was done. Reliever Brock Mayer came in and pitched a superb inning, walking one and striking out two without allowing a run. Mayer said of his success, “Just hitting spots and trusting the defense behind me…Pressure is only what you make of it and at the end of the day it’s just baseball. I just knew Reed’s run was on first and my job is to come in and make sure his run doesn’t score.” It didn’t.
But in the eighth, the Coast finally managed a breakthrough when Johnny Pappas drew a bases-loaded walk and brought home Matthew Bardowell. Then an Anthony Mata sacrifice fly scored Benjamin Rosengard, but Tyler Bates limited further damage in the chaotic inning, and the B’s still led 4-3.
In the bottom of the ninth, Christian Diaz got the call to close. He promptly sat down three of the Coast’s best hitters: Cooper Vest, Corona, and Cuba Bess, and the score stood. There would be no need for extra baseball this afternoon; the B’s bus back to the Bay could get a head start on the perpetual traffic that never starts or ends. After the game, Diaz kept his reflection on the shutdown inning simple: “Every pitch counts; I was trying to attack. I felt no pressure—just trusting my teammates and it was a great team win!”
The Coast terrorized the Ballers for much of this season and that tide has turned. But the road gets no easier with the Roadsters ahead. The Ballers face Modesto for a midweek series before returning to Raimondi for their final home stand of the season: a weekend three with Modesto, three with the Missoula PaddleHeads, and then three to close out the 2026 home regular season with these Coasters.
Homer hero Blythe said what many a B’s fan will be thinking on the Monday off day: “It’s always nice to win against one of the best teams in the league. Hopefully we can keep this rolling into Modesto this next week!”
Odds & Ends
Reliever/closer Langston Burkett is out with an ankle injury.
Credit to the B’s fan who wore a very visible BUILT BY OAKLAND shirt behind home plate during the game. Since Long Beach’s existence and roster construction has benefitted significantly from the Oakland front office, the sentiment is as true as trolling gets.
Speaking of: if the Coast go undefeated the rest of the way in the season’s final 18 games, they set the new modern Pioneer League record. One more loss ties the 2025 Ballers. Two or more…
After Ethan Crawford’s first hit as a Baller, the Coast players helped make sure he got to keep that ball. Not only nice sportsmanship, but a cool moment for the B’s bullpen catcher who’s handled a bunch PBL baseballs and now has one that probably means more than the rest.
It was Under the Sea day at Blair Field in partnership with the Aquarium of the Pacific, and I will reiterate my claim that it is a far superior visit than the Monterey Bay Aquarium. When we went to the AqPac (not a nickname) in July, the guy manning the shark petting tank saw my B’s hat, said he’d been to his first Coast game the night before against the Ballers, and used to live in Oakland. “But I’m down here now,” he explained. “because I just love sharks.” He pulled up his sleeve to show me a familiar toothy mouth rising from the deep. “Have you ever seen the movie Jaws?”
Photos in Long Beach from Anthony Alejandrez.
Animations from Chris Drue.
Joe Horton is the editor of Dispatches from Raimondi.
