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| Omaha starter Jeff Suppan allowed one earned run in 6.1 innings pitched, giving up six hits and one walk to go with one strikeout. (Photo: Brad Williams Photography) |
Before the game reached extra innings, the Chasers were able to forge a tie with two out in the ninth thanks to some patience at the plate and a clutch base hit.
With David Lough aboard at third and two men already out, Clint Robinson coaxed a free pass from reliever Donovan Hand, followed by an infield single by Kila Ka’aihue to score Lough and bring the Chasers to within a run at 3-2. After Irving Falu worked a six-pitch walk to load the bases, Yamaico Navarro smashed a grounder past a diving Eric Farris at second base. Pinch-runner Joaquin Arias scored easily, but rightfielder Caleb Gindl’s throw home was on the money to gun down pinch-runner Kurt Mertins, ending the ninth with a 3-3 score. It was one of two innings in which the Chasers made the third out on the basepaths.
Nashville went on to score four times in the top of the 11th, the final two tallies coming on a home run by Mat Gamel, his 27th long ball of the season. The rally was set up when losing pitcher Brandon Sisk (4-2) airmailed a throw to first on a sacrifice bunt, a play that allowed the lead runner to move to third and the batter to second.
After the game, Omaha manager Mike Jirschele shook his head when talking about the defensive woes.
“We just have to get better defensively and make plays,” Jirschele said.
Early on, the story of the game was young Nashville hurler Wily Peralta. The big righthander held the Chasers hitless until the seventh, when Lorenzo Cain beat out an infield grounder and later scored on an Irving Falu single. Those were the only two hits Peralta surrendered in his seven innings of work, striking out seven batters and walking two.
“You’ve got to give him [Peralta] credit,” Jirschele said. “He threw the ball well. He is one of the better starters we’ve seen this year, but then on the other side, Soup [Suppan] pitched a whale of a game too.”
Omaha starter Jeff Suppan allowed two runs – one earned – in 6.1 innings pitched, giving up six hits and one walk to go with one strikeout. He threw 93 pitches, 61 for strikes, exiting with runners on second and third with one down in the seventh. The runner on third would score on a sacrifice fly, Suppan’s only earned run of the game.
The defensive miscues took on a life of their own throughout the ballgame, as each successive error stacked the deck more and more against the Chasers. Nashville took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Robinson dropped a relatively routine two-out throw from third baseman Lance Zawadzki, allowing a run to score from third base. Robinson had trouble again in the eighth, this time on a hard hit grounder that he was unable to backhand. The run that eventually scored in that frame gave the Sounds a 3-1 lead.
Navarro contributed two errors to the final tally, his fourth and fifth of the year in 64 chances with the Storm Chasers to lower his fielding percentage to .922. In addition to the errors committed by Robinson, Navarro and Sisk, Cain booted a ball in right field that allowed a batter to advance to second base on a single.
But, in spite of the great pitching they faced and the poor defense they played, the Chasers hung tight and found a way to send the game into extra innings.
“It’s one thing I give our guys credit for – they don’t give up,” Jirschele said. “They just keep battling right to the end, right to the last out. They just keep going and going and they truly believe right now that they can win games and they’re going to go out and bust their butts right ‘til the end.
“Defensively, we’re going to maybe make some adjustments. We need to go out and win games, playing the same way we have all year. Hopefully, when we’re behind, we can come back and win some games, but we’re not going to really change anything.”
Jirschele showed he isn’t above scoreboard watching as the Chasers try to hold on to their four game lead over the Memphis Redbirds with 14 games left to play.
“I’ll tell you what,” Jirschele said, “these guys [Nashville] are playing a lot better than they did earlier in the year. They’ve got a much better team. Offensively, they are swinging the bats better. Their starting pitching is better than what it was earlier in the year. So they are going to go against Memphis nine games and that’s going to be a battle. I think they’re going to do a good job against Memphis too, but we can’t worry about that.
“We just need to go out and do our job. Hopefully, we come back tomorrow and win that game and get a split out of this series. And I’ll be happy with that split.”
Jirschele said catcher Manny Pina should be ready to return to action in a day or two.
Tomorrow, Omaha will go for their eighth-consecutive win when trailing 2-1 in a series, while also trying to gain ground on the second-place Memphis Redbirds. Omaha righthander Sean O’Sullivan (7-2, 3.47) will take on Nashville lefthander Sam Narron (6-5, 4.89) beginning at 7:05 pm.
But, in spite of the great pitching they faced and the poor defense they played, the Chasers hung tight and found a way to send the game into extra innings.
“It’s one thing I give our guys credit for – they don’t give up,” Jirschele said. “They just keep battling right to the end, right to the last out. They just keep going and going and they truly believe right now that they can win games and they’re going to go out and bust their butts right ‘til the end.
“Defensively, we’re going to maybe make some adjustments. We need to go out and win games, playing the same way we have all year. Hopefully, when we’re behind, we can come back and win some games, but we’re not going to really change anything.”
Jirschele showed he isn’t above scoreboard watching as the Chasers try to hold on to their four game lead over the Memphis Redbirds with 14 games left to play.
“I’ll tell you what,” Jirschele said, “these guys [Nashville] are playing a lot better than they did earlier in the year. They’ve got a much better team. Offensively, they are swinging the bats better. Their starting pitching is better than what it was earlier in the year. So they are going to go against Memphis nine games and that’s going to be a battle. I think they’re going to do a good job against Memphis too, but we can’t worry about that.
“We just need to go out and do our job. Hopefully, we come back tomorrow and win that game and get a split out of this series. And I’ll be happy with that split.”
Jirschele said catcher Manny Pina should be ready to return to action in a day or two.
Tomorrow, Omaha will go for their eighth-consecutive win when trailing 2-1 in a series, while also trying to gain ground on the second-place Memphis Redbirds. Omaha righthander Sean O’Sullivan (7-2, 3.47) will take on Nashville lefthander Sam Narron (6-5, 4.89) beginning at 7:05 pm.
