One of our favorite pitchers, Andrew Carraway, started the game. We've seen him a couple times as a relief pitcher and this was his first start. He was obviously on a pitch count and only was in for 3 1/3 innings but did well allowing 3 hits, no walks, 3 strike outs and one earned run. The speed gun was a bit flaky, so it's hard to say how fast he was throwing (probably in the mid to upper 80s) - but he mixed up his pitches well and seems to have a handle on a variety of pitches.
Eddy Hernandez pitched a scoreless 7th. He walked one and threw a wild pitch. He's new to pitching (he was an outfielder before) and the team seems to be putting some extra effort in him. After the wild pitch Rich Dorman, the Aquasox Pitching Coach, went out to the mound to chat with him. At the end of the inning there was a line at the dugout to shake his hand - Dorman, Bob MacDonald (hitting coach), and John Tamargo (manager). They didn't do this with the other pitchers that we could see and it appears that they're working hard on his pitching confidence.
Early in the game Welington Dotel made a very nice catch in the Vancouver bullpen - running far, and then up on the mound, and reaching above and behind his head to nab the ball. He made a very nice diving catch off a hit by Kent Walton - there was a man on third with two outs and Welington's dash and dive saved the run. We also were impressed by Dotel's hustle on other plays - he consistently backed up second base on balls to left field (once it saved an infielder from an error when a throw went past second into right field).
At the plate the Aquasox got off to a hot start when Ryan Royster continued his hot hitting and put the first pitch of the game from Daniel Straily over the centerfield fence on a line. A very nice hit.
Then later in the first inning Gerardo Avila hit a huge majestic towering bomb to right that cleared the grass area, the double tall fence and was high in the trees further back - unfortunately it was ruled foul (and probably was by about 10 feet or so - but it was so high and far above the foul pole, that it's really hard to tell without satellite surveillance...). Gerardo is only hitting .240 (.647 OPS) going into the game, but when he connects he can really hit a ball. Which brings us to the 5th inning when he hit a line drive over the center field wall for a two run homer.
Anthony Phillips is back to switch hitting (apparently the Mariner upper management want him to keep at it). He hit left handed in all 4 of his at bats and didn't look very good going 0-4 with a strikeout and leaving 7 men on base (4 in scoring position) on the night. Phillips looked solid in the field again.
The new Aquasox catcher, Trevor Coleman (9th round pick this year), reached base 4 times in 4 at bats (a single, two walks, and hit by a pitch). The song they play when he comes to the plate is the country hit, "Small Town USA" - Trevor is from Dripping Springs, Texas...
For Vancouver, Bo Schultz came in to pitch in the 7th inning and is one of those crazy submarine pitchers. Fun to watch. Tyreace House had a bunt single in the 8th inning - he's incredible fast and gets down the line in an instant.
And the play of the night (or the "I'd never seen that before" moment of this game - seems like every baseball game has one...) was in the 5th inning. With Conner Crumbliss, the Vancouver lead-off hitter, on first and no outs Michael Gilmartin hit a line drive directly to Anthony Phillips. Phillips threw to first and would have had Crumbliss (who was diving back to first) for a double play, but the throw bounced and got past Gerardo Avila. The ball hit directly into the chain link fence behind first base (that protects the stands) and stuck there. An Aquasox player ran over and pulled it free as Crumbliss scrambled up and headed safely to second. The umpires consulted and ruled that Crumbliss would be awarded third. Best we could tell, "stuck in the fence" is the same as "into the dugout" from a rules perspective.
Here's the story from the Herald.
And here's the box score.
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