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Four-Walk 7th Drops Blaze, 4-3

August 12, 2012 - California League (CalL) Bakersfield Blaze

The Bakersfield Blaze scratched, clawed, and fought in High Desert on Saturday night, but the Mavericks, for the second straight night, got the last laugh, scoring twice in the 7th to turn a 1-run deficit into a 1-run lead, and went on to win, 4-3.

The Blaze once again opened an early 2-0 lead, this time scoring off High Desert starter Cameron Hobson before the seats were warm. In the top of the 1st, Theo Bowe led off with a line drive double to left, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Ryan Wright sacrifice fly. Immediately thereafter, Travis Mattair doubled to left and Steve Selsky singled in Mattair, and the 1st inning scoring was complete.

The Blaze tacked another early run on in the 3rd. With two outs in the frame, Wright skied a fly to right, and Mavs rightfielder Mike McGee mis-read the shot, the ball landing behind him for a triple. Wright then came in to score on a throwing error by the shortstop and the Blaze went up 3-0.

But the Mavs came back in the middle frames, scoring twice off Josh Smith in the 4th on a hit batter, a double and an error, and the Blaze lead was trimmed to just 3-2.

The score remained 3-2 for some time, with each starting pitcher departing after 6.0 strong innings. For the Blaze, however, the bullpen struggled once again.

In the 7th, Kyle McMyne (L, 2-3) was summoned and quickly retired the first two batters. However, after getting ahead of the number nine hitter, no balls and two strikes, the momentum shifted. Gabriel Noriega singled to left, and McMyne lost home plate, walking the next three batters in a row to bring in the tying run.

The Blaze went back to the pen for Justice French, but he fared no better to his first man, issuing a walk to John Hicks, forcing in the go-ahead run on a controversial ball-four call, and the Mavs led, 4-3.

In the next half inning, Blaze pitching coach Rigo Beltran earned a free pass to the clubhouse from home plate umpire Matt Czajak. After a borderline pitch was called a strike to Kurtis Muller, Beltran barked from the Blaze dugout, and was sent packing.

What Beltran missed was a frustrating end - the Blaze managed to put the tying run at third base with only one out in the 8th off Stephen Kohlscheen (W, 3-1), but could not bring him in, and after a scoreless bottom half, the Blaze once again put the tying run on base, but a brilliant double play ended the 9th, and ended the ballgame, with Carson Smith getting the final 4 outs for his 13th save.

The defeat means the Blaze go to 0-5 in High Desert this season, with one more chance Sunday to try to salvage a game in Adelanto in 2012.

The defeat also drops the Blaze to 20-28 in the 2nd half, and to 61-57 overall.

The series with High Desert wraps up Sunday afternoon at 3:05pm, with Daniel Renken taking aim at snapping the Blaze 3-game losing streak, and 5-game skid here in High Desert. Opposing Daniel Renken is the Mavericks righthander, Brett Shankin.

Sunday's game will be available for broadcast listeners on internet only through the Blaze multimedia page, as Dan Besbris brings the call at 2:55pm.

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California League Stories from August 12, 2012


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