I’ve had a full day, and am not done yet, either, so this will have to be quick:
Old Detroit: 4.4 (26.8 – 8.7), Salem 0.6 (27.2 – 23.3). The Wolverines kept their ERA low thanks to Marcus Stroman’s 7 ip, 1 er outing, to maintain most of their statistical advantage over the Seraphim. The Seraphim did improve their numbers, especially by hitting at a solid .272, .331, .413. The Seraphs got 24 innings of pretty good pitching (4.12 ERA) to slightly improve their ERA coming into the game. They have PLENTY of pitching on the books. If they had let Michael Wacha relax with the Corvallis Cherubs so his 9 earned runs in 9.3 innings this week would not count against Salem, the Seraphim would be only 2.2 games out now.
DC 2.5 (21.3 – 23.7), Canberra 2.5 (30.5 – 33.8) If you take this out to FOUR decimal points, you discover the Balk are actually ahead in the series, 2.5015 to 2.485. I thought there’d be more balanced series like this, with razors’ edges separating our teams in the head-to-head face off. With teams so evenly matched, and raw percentages close to .500, small things can have big effects. Like the “small thing” of my failing to enter Matt Brash’s 4 earned runs allowed Monday, because he didn’t get any outs. I normally check the IP to see if a player needs updating, and I forgot Brash hadn’t completed even 1/3 of an inning in that disastrous 11-run inning Mariner pitchers surrendered to the lowly Royals. So I wasn’t careful to check his runs allowed, until I saw those 4 runs today (allowed on Sunday).
The ‘Roos did well to not lose ground despite being saddled with 4 more earned runs allowed. Their hitters Tuesday went .333, .405, .455 as a team, led by JD Davis’ 3 for 4 with a homer. And 5 pitchers completed 5.3 shutout innings to keep the Canberrans inside that critical 6 games behind mark, and even gain a little bit closer to first.
DC only got one inning of scoreless pitching (and it was pitched by Tyler Megill out in Falls Church, for the minor league Twitches), and its hitters slumped to a .229, .288, .396 slash line. That cost them 0.8 games in their race to capture first place.
Peshastin 4.1 (29.3 – 16.9), Haviland 0.9 (25.9 – 32.3). The Pears continued to pound the Dragons, winning 0.8 of the game Tuesday. The formula is pretty simple: get good pitching (7.7 ip, 2 er) and all you need is a little power (2 homers and a triple) and you can turn a .200, .231 BA and OBP into a .751 OPS. It’s so simple. You’d think the Pears could have done this all year! It will cost Peshastin, however, all this last-minute good play. They’ve slipped behind the Oakland A’s into the 3rd pick for the Rookie Draft.
In the meantime, Haviland is in a slump. Dragon pitchers only finished 1.7 ip, but did allow 3 earned runs. Their hitters went an uninspired .214/ .312/ .333. Now they suddenly have to worry about Kaline!
Pittsburgh Pirates 3.2 (28 – 21), Kaline 1.8 (31.7 – 31. 4). The Pirates continued to confound and bedevil the Drive, putting them through a mini-version of what the Kangaroos suffered two weeks ago. The Drive hit very well (.250, 400, .393), capitalizing on 7 walks, but their pitchers struggled to a 6.43 ERA over 7 innings. If only the DRIVE were the ones with 3.2 wins at this point. They’d be only 1.3 games behind the Dragons.
Flint Hill 4.0 (26.3 – 19.3), Bellingham 1.0 (21.5 – 31.5). Hunter Greene pitched VERY well, 6 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and 3 walks. Good thing he did that: the hitting was not all that impressive (.200, .300, .371)– except for Ronald Acuna’s two home runs. The Cascades also got great pitching, but for only 2 innings. But not much nice can be said about their hitting. They went something like 2 for 22 (both hits by Kyle Farmer) with 3 walks and a HBP. But is Cascade management having conniptions? I doubt it. They are now only 2 games behind the Pears in the race for the first EFL pick in the Rookie draft.
Portland 3.6 (24.5 – 19.8), OUR Pittsburgh 1.4 (24.5 – 32.2). These two P teams are well matched. See those identical weekly runs scored totals? They were 2/3 identical on Tuesday alone. Portland went .200/.294/.367 with no homers in 34 plate appearances. Pittsburgh went .200/.294/.289 with one Adley Rutschman homer in 51 plate appearances . Their pitching has been more disparate on the week, but practically identical on the day: Portland got 17 innings with 7 earned runs allowed, whereas Pittsburgh got 18 ip with 8 earned runs (plus 2 more innings from Wil Crowe down in Altoona).