|  | | The Farm Report -- 9/16/2009 | | By Scott Lucas September 16, 2009 | California League Semifinals, Game 4: at Bakersfield 11, San Jose 4
Win: Tanner Roark
Best-of-five tied 2-2
One streak ends tonight. The Blaze have won four consecutive elimination games but have lost nine straight in San Jose.
Tuesday’s game began, shall we say, inauspiciously, with fielding errors by 2B Matt Lawson, SS Davis Stoneburner and 1B Ian Gac resulting in a run for San Jose. Notably, starter Tanner Roark tallied his next four outs on strikeouts.
The offending parties immediately made amends by reaching safely in the bottom of the 1st. Gac’s two-out, two-run single gave Bakersfield a lead it would never lose. Gac later clubbed a three-run homer and drove in his 6th run of the game on a sac fly.
The Blaze chased San Jose starter Kyle Richardson in the 4th with a 6-1 lead and two on. Both runners scored on wild pitches by reliever Ryan Shaver, who would throw two more and walk a couple of batters before leaving. In the 5th, Jake Kaase and Matt Lawson executed a double steal that scored Kaase for Bakersfield’s 10th run.
The situation grew ugly in the 6th. Roark forced DH Darren Ford out of the game with a pitch to his chest. In the bottom half, Giants reliever Trey Webb threw one pitch behind Mike Bianucci followed by another that connected with his midsection. Bianucci edged toward the mound and the benches cleared, but tranquility prevailed. Webb was ejected.
Stoneburner, Gac, RF Joey Butler and CF David Paisano all had two hits for the Blaze.
Roark pitched well, albeit still not at the level of his regular-season output. He allowed that extremely unearned 1st-inning run, then ran into real trouble in the 4th when four hits and a walk resulted in three runs and cut the lead the 5-4. Roark recovered to pitch three more relatively uneventful innings and finished with three walks and six strikeouts. Michael Main was perfect in the 8th and 9th and struck out three.
Tonight, quarterfinal Game 3 hero Richard Bleier will start for Bakersfield against righty David Mixon (3.29 ERA). Mixon started only three games during the regular season and hasn’t pitched in 13 days, but both starts were of high quality. Once again, the next series begins without a break, so if the Blaze advance, they’ll travel to High Desert or host Rancho Cucamonga with a standard five-man rotation.
World Cup
Justin Smoak hit his 6th homer in five games and walked twice in a 4-2 victory over Japan. Team USA and Canada have today off.
I promise that “Justin Smoak homered” isn’t a running gag. He’s really doing this.
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| NEWS FLASH! 9/4/2010 7:21:07 AM- Game-Watching Party v.2: Wed., Sept. 8, with Assistant GM Thad Levine
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 Scott Lucas Scott Lucas was born in Arlington, Texas, to Richard and Becky Lucas. He lived mostly in Arlington before moving to Austin, where he graduated from The University of Texas. Scott works for Austin Valuation Consultants, Ltd., and has published several boring articles about real estate appraisal and environmental contamination. He makes a swell margarita and refuses to run longer than ten kilometres. |
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