Pippins Allow Season-High Runs to Pickles in Defeat
June 26, 2024 - West Coast League (WCL)
Yakima Valley Pippins News Release
YAKIMA, Washington - Yakima Valley dropped its fourth-straight game on Tuesday, falling 15-2 to the Portland Pickles while allowing the most runs in a single game so far this season.
The loss dropped the Pippins to 11-11 in the first half of play in the West Coast League.
The Pipps kept Portland quiet for three innings, as Ethan Salscheider's fifth start of 2024 began well. He finished with 5.0 innings pitched, and allowed five hits, four earned runs and two walks. The scoring began in the fourth inning, when Sam Christiansen, Alex Gouveia, Tanner Griffith and Tyler Harries all came around to give Portland the 4-0 lead.
Yakima Valley added one of its two runs on the night in response to this spark of offense by the Pickles. Drew Johnson scored his first of two runs on the night in the bottom of the fourth to cut the deficit to 4-1. He first reached on a walk and came around after an infield error.
Portland's offense did not stop churning, as another run came in by Alex Overbay. He hit a leadoff single in the fifth, and Gouveia's sacrifice fly extended the Pickles' lead to 5-1. Then, the game was blown open when Portland brought in seven more runs in the sixth inning.
Justin Cuellar had come in for relief of Salscheider and struggled. He allowed two hits and six earned runs with two walks. The future UCLA Bruin was replaced by Nic Lewandowski and the Pipps finally grinded out of the inning, but not before Dominic Chacon, Conner Stewart, Kevin Ferguson, Overbay, Patrick Keighran and Christiansen all scored. It was 12-2 heading into the back half of game one.
Johnson added the last run of Yakima Valley's night after that offensive explosion, but Portland added three more runs to put away the Pipps in the seventh and eighth innings. A 2-RBI single from Chacon put his total at five RBIs in the game, and the Pickles led 14-2.
One final run from Stewart off the bat of Keighran put Yakima Valley away.
On offense, Yakima Valley only found four hits in the first game of the three-game series against Portland. Two of the four hits came from Adrian Hinojosa, who finished with a 2-for-4 effort. The other two base knocks came from Johnson and Preston Allen. Allen added his 29th hit of the season, which ties for the second-most hits in the WCL with Kevin Takeuchi.
Five pitchers appeared on the mound for the Pipps in Game 1, and seven walks caused a lot of the issues. When 'Salsa's' night was done, Cuellar, Lewandowski, Keegan Edler and Davis Koester all took the bump out of the bullpen.
The two punchouts dealt were not enough to overcome all the free passes to the Pickles. Koester looked solid as the final relief arm for Yakima Valley, as he finished with 2.2 IP and just one earned run allowed on two hits.
Yakima Valley is back in action with Portland from The Orchard at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday. The Pipps are looking to avoid a five-game losing streak by having a much-needed rebound victory over the second-seeded team in the WCL South Division.
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West Coast League Stories from June 26, 2024
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