Pitching tonights game for the TY was Brett Marshall who pitched the last home game. He did such a great job last game he had a lot to live up to. I got to the game late but when I sat down the TY were up to bat and Marshall had allowed just a hit and someone committed an error in the top of the 1st. In the second inning he got a grounder down the RF line and Kevin Mahoney who was playing 1st, jumped on it, recovered and threw to Brett to get the runner out at 1st. It was a great play. Brett then allowed a double and walk but got out of the inning with a strikeout. In the 3rd inning I realized that Angel Pegan was playing for St. Lucie just in time for him to hit a leadoff solo shot to right to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. Brett got into more trouble that inning after walking the second batter and and allowing a single to put runners on the corners, after a strikeout for the first out of the inning he got a groundout which scored the 2nd run. He escaped the inning with no further damage on 2 more groundouts. In the 4th inning the Mets again touched up Brett for a run though this one was all his fault. He walked the first batter got a groundout and then hit the next batter. He threw a wild pitch to move the runners up, after a walk(to Angel Pegan) he allowed a single that scored the runner from 3rd. He then got a groundout to end the inning. In the 5th inning for Brett, the leadoff hitter reached on an error by Rob Lyerly, he then got a groundout, a single move the runner to 3rd. Brett then got a popout and Hector Rabago who was catching, threw out the runner for the last out of the inning. Overall Brett was not that sharp, he allowed 3 runs on 7 hits, he walked and struckout 4, and he threw a wild pitch. He did however limit the damage and keep the TY in the game so they could stage a comeback in the late innings.
Pegan up to bat
Pegan on 3rd. Luckily he didn't score this time
The TY offense was pretty dead through the first few innings of the game.Leading up to the 5th inning they only had 2 hits and a walk. In the 5th with 1 out, Kevin Mahoney doubled, he moved to 3rd on a single by Kelvin Castro and scored on a sac fly by Deangelo Mack. When Castro singled, the ball bounced off the SS glove and went into center, Sojo held up Kevin at 3rd and this man behind me started yelling at Kevin for not trying to score the run. Apparently he thought it would be okay to just ignore the manager, uh no. (in the minor leagues, the manager usually stands in the 3rd base coach box)
Luckily Kevin was able to score on the sac fly because that guy probably would have had words for him. In the bottom of the 7th inning the TY scored 2 runs to tie the game. Those runs came on a walk by Mahoney, a fielding error which moved Kevin to 2nd and Castro safe at 1st, (the ball just rolled through the 3rd basemans legs) Deangelo Mack then sac bunted the runners over for the 1st out of the inning. Taylor Grote pinch hit for Rabago and got himself a walk(surprisingly because he strikes out a ton) This loaded the bases for Abraham Almonte who greeted the new Mets pitcher with a 2 run single. That was it for that inning but it tied up the game and got Brett off the hook.
In the top of the 8th Mitch Abeita came in to catch since Taylor had pinch hit for the catcher Rabago and Kyle Higashioka was the DH for the night. Ryan Flannery came in to pitch and after getting the first out he allowed a triple down the RF line, the runner scored on a groundout. Flannery got out of the inning with another groundout. This put the score at 4-3 going into the bottom of the 8th.
Neil Medchill led off the bottom of the 8th with a walk, Kyle followed with a single off the fresh into the game reliever for St. Lucie, this moved Neil to 3rd. Kevin Mahoney then walked and was followed by a bases loaded walk to Kelvin Castro, this scored Neil with the tying run(again). Deangelo Mack then popped up(infield fly rule) Mitch Abeita grounded out which scored Kevin for the go ahead run and Abe Almonte struckout to end the inning but the TY was now leading 5-4 going into the top of the 9th.
Ryan Flannery stayed in to pitch and allowed a leadoff single and then 2 groundouts that moved the runner to 3rd. He thankfully struckout the final batter of the game and the TY beat the 1st place(in the south division) St. Lucie Mets in the 1st of 4 games. Flannery got the win though something has to be said for Preston Claiborne who pitched a perfect 6th and 7th with 3 strikeouts. Things have been looking up for the T-Yanks though things should after dropping 9 in a row, it couldnt have possibly gotten much worse.
Going back to the shifts that happened in the game, its always neat to see how things work out after the fact. Hector Rabago got pinch hit for by Taylor Grote who only came in to pinch hit, he didnt replace anyone in the field. Because Kyle Higashioka was the DH and Mitch Abeita was on the bench, they were able to do those substitutions without losing the DH. Taylor actually walked instead of striking out. Before that at-bat he had walked only 15 times yet struck out 43 and his walk came on a 3-2 count. In the next inning, Mitch who came in to catch after Rabago got pinch hit for came up to bat and grounded out to score the go ahead run. Who knew what would have happened if they hadnt made those substitutions.
When I got to the game one of the other boosters gave me her 2 tickets to see the Reds and Rays in the end of June, I am excited because I like interleague play and I like the Reds. The tickets were also free so I couldn't pass them up. I also saw that Brett's girlfriend was in town and I talked to her and Kevin's wife for a while at the end of the game. I stayed over where they were because I didnt want to mess with the mojo if I were to leave since we were already up a run. She is only going to be around until Sunday morning so she will miss the dinner on Sunday night. While I was sitting over by the dugout with them, another foul ball flew our way, they are attracted to us as we almost got hit by one in Clearwater. Kevin's wife said she finally talked to Kevin about the ball that almost hit us in Clearwater and he said he didnt realize how close it had come to knocking one of us out until Brett said something to him. I think ill stick to behind the screen from now on.
I wont make it to the TY game tomorrow because I have to work but I should make it Friday through Tuesday. Depending on how the games go I might do updates but probably not for every game.
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