Tornadoes snatch victory from jaws of defeat
Published on June 9, 2008 under Canadian American League (Can-Am)
Worcester Tornadoes News Release
Quebec City, Quebec -- The Tornadoes committed four errors and wasted a brilliant pitching performance from Shaun McNamara, as the Quebec Capitales came from behind with a four-run 8th inning to defeat Worcester, 5-4, at Le Stade Municipal on Monday night.
Worcester cracked the scoreboard first, as they snapped a scoreless tie against Quebec righty Michel Simard in the top of the 4th. Chris Colabello led off with a hustle double to left-center and Alex Trezza was hit by a pitch. Francisco Caraballo grounded into a double play, but then Simard lost command of the strike zone, walking Omar Pena and hitting Rico Santana to load the bases. Mike MacMillan followed with a two-out, two-run base hit to rightfield, plating Colabello and Pena and giving Worcester a 2-0 lead.
Meanwhile, McNamara was outstanding. The Worcester righty didn't allow a hit until the 4th inning and faced just one over the minimum through the first six innings of the game. The Tornadoes gave McNamara another run in the top of the 7th. Santana singled with one out, and then came all the way around to score on a Jeff LaHair base hit to rightfield, when rightfielder Mike Goss overthrew the cutoff man for an error. With a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 7th, McNamara gave up a bloop hit to Goefrey Tomlinson, then made a throwing error on a pickoff attempt, allowing Tomlinson to get all the way around to third base. McNamara bounced back to strike out Patrick Deschenes, but Eddie Lantigua followed with a weak groundball to the left side. MacMillan fielded and appeared to throw out Lantigua by a full running step, but he was called safe by first base umpire Yves Lamontagne as Tomlinson scored to make it 3-1. McNamara induced Pat Scalabrini to flyout to centerfield for the second out, but as McNamara was about to pitch to Greg Stevens, the stadium lights above home plate mysteriously went out. The lights remained out for over 40 minutes, then came back on, and McNamara got Stevens to ground out to second base to end the inning.
Scott Grimes gave Worcester an insurance run with an opposite-field solo home run off righthander T.J. Stanton to open the 8th, and Worcester held a 4-1 lead heading to the bottom of the inning. Alex Nunez began the frame with a single to left-center off McNamara, but Jean-Michel Rochon-Salvas grounded into a fielder's choice to short. Mike Goss then hit a groundball to the left side that MacMillan was unable to handle for an error, as Rochon-Salvas went to second base. With Issael Gonzalez at the plate and a 2-2 count, the Capitales tried to execute the double steal, but Trezza gunned down Rochon-Salvas at third base for the second out of the inning. McNamara ended up walking Gonzalez, and he was pulled in favor of righty Eddie Pena, making his first relief appearance of the season after starting on Saturday night. Pena was greeted by three consecutive RBI singles by Tomlinson, Deschenes and Eddie Lantigua, as the tying and go-ahead runs scored on Lantigua's hit to left when Scott Grimes let the ball get under his glove for an error. The Tornadoes went down in order in the top of the 9th.
Stanton (2-0) was credited with the Win and Eddie Pena (2-1) took the Loss. Righty Jason Schutt pitched a perfect 9th for his 3rd save of the season. All five Quebec runs were unearned to the team. All three runs charged to McNamara were unearned and one of the two runs charged to Eddie Pena was unearned as a result of the errors. McNamara ended up going 7.2 innings, allowing just 4 singles, and recorded 14 groundball outs on the night. MacMillan recorded his third consecutive three-hit game, and before he was caught looking to end the ballgame in the 9th, he had recorded hits in 9 of his previous 10 official plate appearances. Colabello extended his hitting streak to 8 games and Grimes extended his on-base streak to 16 games. Worcester missed an opportunity to overtake the Capitales for first place in the Can-Am League, and now sit 1.5 games behind Quebec in the standings. The Tornadoes will look to get back on track on Tuesday night when they send lefty Tom Cochran to the mound against Quebec righthander Erick Nadon. First pitch is set for 7:05pm.
Canadian American League Stories from June 9, 2008
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