Game 83 Recap: Was That Real?
Ballers pull off biggest comeback in team history to stun Modesto 13-12
By Roberto Santiago
WEST OAKLAND—The Oakland Ballers are still alive. After following up an eight-game win streak with a five-game losing streak, the Ballers playoff hopes were as slim as they have been all season. Yet they won’t just completely fade away. With their backs against the wall, Oakland has taken a third straight series from two of the best teams in the league.
Pitchers Ren Abe-Arias and Reed Butz earned wins for the team last weekend in Long Beach, with both pitching deep into their starts. Coming into today’s game Oakland, starting pitching had only allowed three earned runs in their last four games, all against the Modesto Roadsters. On Saturday, Butz (1-1) took the mound looking to put together consecutive good starts for the first time this season. Unfortunately, the up and down nature of Butz’s 2026 performance continued as he gave up 8 runs over three innings. Butz looked like he was in control for the first two innings with the Ballers offense staking him to a 2-1 lead. The wheels came off in the third. Before recording an out, Butz surrendered 7 runs on four long balls. He got three quick outs after Hayden Dunhurst hit the fourth dinger and departed with the team down 8-1. James Pazdera allowed 4 more runs over the next 2.1 innings before giving way to Brady Chavez. Chavez became the fulcrum upon which the Ballers turned two of the more improbable innings in their short history.
In their second game since trading clubhouse catalyst Jake Allgeyer, the Ballers turned to a new face at first base in Joey Winters who made his Ballers debut. With Winters at first, all-world power hitter Jeter Ybarra took over Allgeyer’s spot on the hot corner. Ybarra acquitted himself well, turning three chances into three assists, including a double play. The last time he played at third? “It's been a while,” Ybarra recalled, “I think last year in the Frontier League was the last time I played it, but always loved it there. It's very similar to first base, so very comfortable. It was fun to throw the ball around a little bit, make a couple plays.”
Ybarra did play 13 games at third for Brockton of the Frontier League in 2025 clocking in with a .971 fielding percentage, which is exactly what Brooks Robinson had in 2,870 major league games. However, you can be forgiven if Ybarra’s prowess in the field isn’t what stood out for you. Oakland took that 2-1 lead in the second on solo home runs from Mitchell Sanford and Tristan Moore. Sanford singled home a run in the third as the team tried to claw their way back. Winters, who was hitting .359 with 1 home run in 28 games with the Utica Unicorns of the United States Professional Baseball League Powered by Mortgage Matchup (that is the full official name) hit a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth to trim the Modesto lead to 11-4. It was mostly quiet on both sides for the next three innings, with the Roadsters adding one more insurance run on a policy that didn’t pay out. The stage was set. The drama was about to unfold.
Moore and Jaden Collura reached safely to open the bottom of the eighth. A Winters ground out advanced them 90 feet each and a single by Brendan O’Sullivan brought home Moore. Logan Johnstone walked to load the bases before Esai Santos singled in Collura, keeping the bases juiced for that man, Jeter Ybarra. The Pioneer League home run leader was locked into the moment and wasted no time, putting a 1-0 pitch from Aaron Moreno over the wall in left center. To quote Dave Niehaus and as appropriate for Oakland’s top sandwich aficionado, “Get out the rye bread and mustard, grandma, it’s grand salami time!” All of a sudden, it was 12-10 and the crowd, which had started at an astounding 4,135 but was now a mere 3,000 or so, let out collective roar of relief. What had seemed like another lopsided loss to a great offensive team was suddenly one they knew the team would win. Of the grand slam, “Just trying to see a good pitch and put a good swing on a ball,” Ybarra said after the game. “And honestly, we had the bases loaded, had a good little rally going, so I was just trying to get the next guy up.” The next guy, Noah Blythe, hit a smash that sent right fielder Lucas Terilli crashing into the wall to make the catch. The play would stand in stark contrast to the way Blythe would end the game.
The ninth inning would be more about patience than power for the Ballers. Once again, the first two batters reached base, this time on a walk by Collura and a single by Winters. Brendan O’Sullivan attempted a sacrifice bunt that died right in front of the plate. Dunhurst, the Modesto catcher, tried to get the lead runner at third, but the throw was missed by third sacker Max Handron and sailed into left field, allowing Collura to score. 12-11. The next at bat had some of that Ballers magic, the kind that makes Modesto manager JT Snow point at things. Except Snow wasn’t there. After a fracas with the umpires on Wednesday in Modesto, Snow wasn’t at Thursday’s game and presumably missed Friday as well. On this day, with runners on second and third, Dunhurst was called for catcher’s interference with Johnstone at the plate. Johnstone was awarded first base, which brought acting Modesto manager Alex Leach out to argue. Leach understood the assignment as demonstrated by his skipper and was promptly ejected. He eventually took the long walk through right field, to the clubhouse, to the strains of Nah Nah Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye over the PA and as a serenade from the Oakland faithful. Santos dug in with the bases loaded and drew a dramatic base-on-balls in an eight-pitch at bat. The walk tied the game and passed the bat to that man again, Ybarra, who struck out with little fanfare.
Not every great game ends like the climax of The Natural. Sometimes a team must be the willow, not the oak. In this case it was slugger and occasional relief pitcher Noah Blythe who came to the dish with ducks on the pond and one out. As Blythe stood in, he knew that the worst case for Oakland would be going to a knockout round. With one out, he’d likely need a fly ball to score a run without a base hit; not a problem for a guy who had nearly hit one out of the park in his last AB. Blythe took a hack at the first pitch he saw and fouled it away. Blythe offered at a 1-1 slider and missed it to go down 1-2 in the count. He never swung again. “He was just spamming me sliders,” said Blythe of the at bat, “I thought he was going to throw me a heater at one point. I’m just trying to see it deep…and yeah, ball four.” Ball four. Game over. Ballers win.
It was a rousing performance from the Ballers offense. You can’t come back from 8 down if you don’t score at least 9. The power from Ybarra and the patience of Santos and Blythe were impressive and obvious, but Ybarra wanted to make sure the world got a story that might get lost in the fireworks—the pitching of Brady Chavez. “I think that's going to go a little unnoticed. Hopefully he gets the attention he deserves because we were down early, but to come in and dominate the zone and throw a lot of strikes and get batters out after an unfortunate start is huge for us. That was huge for us and huge for the hitters. Gives us confidence to go up and get some barrels and get some runs for him.”
Pitching coach also Jim Dedrick credited the bullpen with keeping the B’s in the game. “The rotation has settled in. This is the first time this week we’ve had to go to the pen for any long distance and they did a great job today keeping us in the game.” Without Chavez shutting the door on Modesto for three scoreless frames, the comeback can’t happen. On a day where the line score says the pitching struggled, Chavez quietly righted the ship and gave his team a chance. “I’m just making one pitch at a time,” said Chavez on his approach entering a lopsided game, “then get the momentum on our side, have an idea that we're gonna make a comeback, and then just keep making the best pitch I can.”
Oakland never quit on the game. They know the season isn’t over. Even with the the trade of a stalwart like Allgeyer, the team continues to fight. “There's definitely a lot of ups and downs, and a lot of new faces and everything,” said Chavez, “but we're a close group right now, and we're playing really good baseball. So vibes are really good.”
Blythe also remarked on the chill vibe in the dugout even being down big: “Just try to get the next guy up, stack base runners and hit situationally.”
Ybarra agreed, “Down but never out. This ballpark plays to our lefties really well and we knew we were swinging it really well. It was just a matter of getting on base and keep passing the baton to the next guy, getting that next guy up and getting those runs in.”
Chavez is excited to see the club playing some of its best ball late in the season. “It's super fun playing meaningful baseball, not just coming out, showing up to the yard, but playing for something makes it way more fun.”
Second place Missoula lost on Saturday, cutting their lead over the Ballers to 5 games with 13 left to play. As the crowd cleared out, fans passing each other, game day staff and members of the front office and had little to say. They silently mouthed things like “What was that?” and “Oh my God,” as they clutched their heads or their hearts. In reply, they shrugged shoulders with their palms towards the sky saying, “I don’t know.” No one knows what’s coming, but we know the Ballers are not going to coast through these last two weeks. Oakland continues to believe.
Odds & Ends:
James Pazdera’s 4 runs in 2.1 innings don’t tell the full story as Pazdera got into some deep counts. He often had two strikes on a batter before not being able to get the out.
With his 33rd home run and a grand salami today, it was time for another edition of Jeter Ybarra’s Slamwiches, Sandingers, etc. We asked Ybarra what he looks for when he’s out shopping for sandwich fixings: “My usual cold cut sandwich is either salami with some cheese and just keep it simple, salami, cheese, and mayonnaise, or I'll do a little ham, turkey, bacon. So, one of those two usually.” Salami. Classic.
RP Langston Burkett is out for the season with a ligament issue in his ankle. Asked what he’d like to say if this is his last week in Oakland, Burkett remarked, “It’s been amazing. The fans, it’s an amazing atmosphere. It makes you want to play everyday, give everything you’ve got.” Manager Aaron Miles also offered his thoughts on Burkett’s time in Oakland, “He took great strides this year showing he belongs in professional baseball. He’s got a bright future in this game. I think he was our best reliever this year and he was building and getting stronger. He may have opportunities elsewhere next year. These guys are playing to not be in the Pioneer League, but we’d take player of his caliber back next year.”
Fan favorite SP Charlie Hurley was released by the team on Saturday. Hurley was the last starting pitcher from the Opening Day roster still with the team.
Joey Winters grew up in St. Paul, but heard stories about the Oakland crowds from his mother. “It’s incredible. The fans are live. It’s probably the loudest environment I’ve ever been around.”
On the pitching turnaround in August, Dedrick says the approach hasn’t changed but maybe the confidence has turned a corner: “Guys are attacking the hitters better and not being intimidated by the small ballpark we play in. We know we're going to give up some cheap home runs here, but we're just going to try to out pitch the other team in this park, and that's what we've been doing.”
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.
