Game 95 Recap, Sept. 5: A Few Runs to Win It
Ballers come up short in fast-paced pitchers’ duel 3-1, fall game behind in final series of 2026
by Joe Horton
At the end of a long season, the pitching on both sides might have been tempted to take a night off. So many pitches all summer, always throwing at that same spot, that teeny little pentagon 60 feet, six inches away? Add to that a little ABS malfunctioning in Marysville…would anyone care if we just ballooned a few over the plate? Not so Saturday night.
Oakland starter Hunter Day was superb, going 7.0, allowing just two runs on five hits while walking three and striking out one. He was coming off another strong start against Long Beach where he went 6.2 giving up only one earned. Day reflected on what was working in this outing: “Fastball and changeup early to hitters and getting a lot of weak contact and rollovers. I know my defense is going to make the plays so I let them work. Sticking with my strengths and keeping the baseball down.
Day has had a few of these low-scoring games in the second half with the Ballers. Does he notice any difference in the team vibe in these tense affairs?
“In low scoring games everyone knows it just takes one hit and a few runs to win it. Unfortunately when it is low scoring, there are a lot of hard-hit balls right at guys on both [teams]. Switching sides, when it is a high-scoring game, you are trying to limit damage on the pitching side of things and one zero could be the difference-maker.”
That was exactly the kind of night it was, with a few big hits making all the difference when runs were at a premium.
The Freebirds’ starter Riley Egloff matched Day, going 6.0, giving up one run on four hits while walking and striking out four. Relievers Eric Vasser, Drew Aguiar, and Rane Pfeifer—who got the save—threw three innings of scoreless ball to close out the Ballers.
The B’s briefly took the lead in the fourth off Mitchell Sanford’s double that scored Jeter Ybarra, who had singled.
Sanford, in another red-hot stretch and coming off two homers on Friday night, talked about the full ABS system in Marysville: “I think the full ABS is definitely an advantage for the hitters to be more selective.” Slashing a terrific .357/.444/.652 on the season, he also considered what it takes to continue to find success at the plate after a long stretch of baseball. “Staying focused at the end of the season is really important. Finishing strong and confident is a great way to approach the offseason.”
In the fifth, the Freebirds reclaimed the lead for good on a Cam Yuran homer that also plated Kyle Carson. The only other scoring on the night was Zach Chamizo’s solo insurance shot in the eighth.
The Ballers managed just five hits, two for extra bases—Sanford’s scoring RBI double in the fourth and Noah Blythe’s double in the sixth, where the team stranded Joey Winters’s leadoff walk at third. Neither team committed an error, which all tallied to an absolutely scorching 2h15 minute running time, leaving all fans plenty of time to catch up on Michigan’s (second) Hail Mary in Ann Arbor, witnessed live by our Dispatcher Nick Clementi in the Big House.
Odds & Ends
The full Yuba-Sutter ABS system temporarily failed, reminding all of us that humans might be flawed from time to time, but when they show up, they’re usually ready to go.
In addition to his characteristically engaging contributions in the broadcast booth with Gareth Kwok, Dispatcher Dan Silvert also competed in the Yuba-Sutter Beer Chug, coming up just a little bit short but shouting out to Casey, Gabe, and James Harris along the way. In this contest, everyone’s a winner.
Superfan Dawn Pieper celebrated her birthday in Marysville surrounded by the fan-ily. But no Celebration is complete without a little trolling, as the squad did in front of Squatter Sutter Health Park in Sacramento.
Photos by Maya Lee, Dawn Pieper, and HiJacker Mike in Marysville.
Video from Nick Clementi in Ann Arbor.
Video recap by Ben Verhoek.
Joe Horton is the editor of Dispatches from Raimondi.
