6-1-25
We start off the morning and new month with the Rangers playing the Cardinals. Jacob deGrom had a shaky enough first inning that manager Bruce Bochy and a trainer went out to him, but he stayed in for six innings, only giving up 1 run. The Rangers had a 2-1 lead going into the seventh.
The Rangers loaded the bases with no outs, but only scored one on a fielder’s choice, 3-1. The Rangers really opened it up in the eighth with 5 runs, including a two-run homer by Josh Smith. Rangers win, 8-1. Texas got two big wins this series along with getting shut out. We’re still not sure if their bats are back on track. It could be worse. The A’s lost again to the Blue Jays for a sweep. So, the A’s have followed an 11-game losing streak with a six-game losing streak and counting.
Up next on the radio was the Chihuahuas and the Rivercats. Tirso Ornelas drove in two runs in the first for the Chihuahuas. He had a good week in Sacramento going 10 for 23. The pups added on. In the fourth, the Rivercats loaded the bases with no outs, but Jackson Wolf pitched his way out of it.
On the first pitch of the fifth, Mason McCoy hit the wall with a shot that was called foul. There was a brief argument, if it should have been in play. No matter. On the next pitch, he homered anyway. 6-0 Chihuahuas. The Rivercats struck back and scored four in the bottom and then one in the eighth. 6-5 Chihuahuas.
In the bottom of the ninth, former Aggie star, Daniel Johnson came up with a runner on and two outs. It was a battle with Ron Marinaccio, who was going for a four-out save. In the end, DJ popped out and the Chihuahuas won, 6-5. I was happy and a bit disappointed. (So I guess that means it canceled out and I wasn’t feeling anything.) The game ran a little too late to pick up the ESPN Radio game, which was too bad since it was the Yankees and Dodgers. I would have been okay with joining the game in progress. (Yes, I hate both teams, but I would have still would have listened.)
Meanwhile on TV, there was more Softball College World Series. Today, it was Tennessee versus UCLA. Tall, pretty blonde, Karlyn Pickins, was TN’s starter. The bio piece about her said she was also a high school star in volleyball and basketball. It turned out to be a controversy-filled game. The infield fly rule came up in the first inning. UCLA popped up to second with a runner on second. The out was called, but second dropped the ball and the runner there got thrown out going to third for a double play. There was a question about the rule and why the girl was running and should she have been tagged out.
TN scored two in the bottom, but UCLA came back with two solo home runs to tie it. In the third inning, UCLA put on party hats. Their sports psychologist recommended this ritual. TN took a 4-2 lead. In the sixth, Pickins slipped in the circle on a pitch, but she stayed in. It did look bad.
In the seventh with two outs, UCLA tied it on a two-run homer. What a crusher, one out from victory. Wait. Suddenly there was a challenge on if the batter touched the plate. I don’t think this would have come up if a teammate hadn’t led the batter back to the plate to make sure. This instituted a 10-minute delay for a video review. I have no doubt they called someone high-up at the league office to rule on this. It’s going to kind of look bad either way. She did miss the base the first time. After the batter was ruled safe, there was another five-minute delay. The TN coach was very angry, but this whole challenge at least had the effect of dampening UCLA’s enthusiasm.
In the bottom of the seventh, a TN batter walked and got bunted over. There was an intentional walk to a slugger with four pitches. You know what, it’s okay that baseball got rid of this. It is a waste of time compared to just waving the batter to first. Anyway, a DP ended regulation. Into extras and in the ninth, UCLA loaded the bases with two outs, but Pickins got out of it. In the bottom, TN loaded the bases after a double and two intentional walks with one out. A single won it, 5-4 TN. I’m sure no one was happier than Pickins. She finished the day with 149 pitches.
Lastly, I watched some Mexican League baseball. The Dorados beat Venados, 15-2. The interesting part was that it was a run rule game. I didn’t know they had that outside of college baseball.
6-2-25
It was another game in Sacramento today. This time it was a Major League contest between the Twins and the A’s. It wasn’t looking like much of a game early, as A’s starter, Luis Severino, gave up six runs in the second. But if you’re going to go down big in the game, it’s best to do it early. By the fourth, the A’s had clawed their way back into it with a Lawrence Butler three-run homer to straight-away center to make it 6-4.
The comeback looked good in the fifth, as the A’s loaded the bases with no outs, but they failed to score. Severino did stay in and kept his team in it, but the A’s relievers couldn’t keep the Twins from adding on. 10-4 Twins. One odd thing I noticed was that Carlos Correa was booed mercilessly by the Sacramento crowd. I’m assuming this goes back to his Astros days. Also, it occurred to me that there have to be a few baseball fans in the city that have season tickets to the A’s and the Rivercats and are getting daily games. They must be pleased, even if their teams aren’t so good.
I did skip the ending of the A’s and the Twins to check out two extra innings games. The Padres and the Giants were in a 0-0 tie after nine innings. A Padres’ sac fly in tenth gave them a 1-0 win. Several Giants players were hanging on the dugout rail groaning after the loss on a line drive out. Giant starter, Logan Webb, had a hard luck no decision after pitching eight innings.
Meanwhile in LA, after taking two of three from the Yankees over the weekend, the Dodgers were taking on the Mets in a marquee game. For any other team, this scheduling would be considered running a gauntlet. For the Dodgers, it’s just a Monday game. I’d been following the score on the ticker. In the ninth, the Dodgers managed to tie the tight game at 2. While I had extra innings coverage, it was audio-only, so I didn’t get to see it. The Mets scored twice in the tenth. The Dodgers scored one in the bottom, but lost, 4-3.
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