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| Luis Mendoza picked up his second win of the postseason (File photo: Minda Haas / Royal Blues) |
On Tuesday night, during Game 1 of the PCL Championship Series, David Lough ripped a ball down the right field line, but stumbled and fell on his way to second base in the seventh inning. He scrambled back to first in time and was followed by Lorenzo Cain, who hit a blooper into right field that Grant Greene was unable to corral and Lough was able to score what turned out to be the winning run all the way from first base.
The 3-2 win for the Chasers gives them a 1-0 lead over the Sacramento River Cats in the best of five, PCL Championship Series. And the 4,203 fans who were in attendance couldn’t have been happier. As has been the case throughout the playoffs, fans gave players standing ovations and were engaged with every pitch. Rob White, from the Omaha World Herald, wrote a blog post about this. Check it out if you get a chance.
Here's an example (Luis Mendoza strikes out Jermaine Mitchell in the 7th inning and the crowd gives him a standing ovation):
Omaha made Sacramento Starter Graham Godfrey work hard in the first inning, throwing 31 pitches. He gave up a bloop single to leadoff hitter Jarrod Dyson, a single to Cain, a walk to Clint Robinson and an infield single to Irving Falu that drove in Dyson with two outs, giving Omaha a 1-0 lead. They had a chance to score earlier in the inning, but Kila Ka’aihue popped out to third with one out and the bases loaded.
In fact, Omaha left six men on base through the first three innings. They missed a golden opportunity to score in the bottom of the third when Cain tripled to lead off the inning. But the Chasers were unable to bring him home. Robinson struck out, Falu popped out to short and Manny Pina flew out.
Omaha manager Mike Jirschele was still thinking about all the missed opportunities after the game.
“It’s not a good thing,” Jirschele said. “I wasn’t real happy in the first part of the game because we had a chance to go up 4-1 or 5-1, but these guys keep battling and we ended up finding a way to score a run, even though it had to be a pop up that they dropped and Lough scored on it to give us the win.”
The River Cats tied the game, 1-1, in the fourth inning when Josh Donaldson came up to the plate with two outs and hit the first pitch he saw over the right field wall. It didn’t seem to faze starting pitcher Luis Mendoza. He retired the next hitter, Adrian Cardenas.
“That’s the way Mendy is,” Jirschele said. “He doesn’t let that stuff bother him. He’s just going to go out and do his thing and hopefully good things will happen. So far this year, that’s what’s been happening. He’ll make the pitches when he has to and he showed it again tonight.”
Mendoza held Sacramento in check for most of the night. He had an impressive 7-pitch second inning, retiring Sacramento 1-2-3, striking out designated hitter Stephen Parker with a nice curveball to end the inning. He ended up going seven innings, giving up two earned runs on three hits and four walks, while striking out a season-high eight.
“I felt great today, I had everything [working],” Mendoza said in assessing his performance. “They got a home run on me and two runs, but I just tried to keep us in the game.”
Even though he gave up four walks, he said he really didn’t struggle with his control.
“I was just trying to be careful with the hitters,” Mendoza said. “I didn’t want to leave too many pitches they could hit – especially with two outs or runners on base. I just tried to make my pitches without making too many mistakes.”
Mendoza said he has seen the video footage of Chasers’ radio broadcaster Mark Nasser celebrating with the team after the won the PCL American Conference Championship on Saturday and that there is a message in the video.
“It’s funny stuff,” Mendoza said. “But that’s the way this team is – everybody is together, even the broadcaster. You know, he’s with us every trip, every game. When you see that video it means everybody is together in this and I think we are going very far.”
The game remained tied 1-1 until the sixth when Mendoza walked centerfielder Jermaine Mitchell to lead off the inning and he came around to score two hitters later on a double down the left field line by first baseman Chris Carter, giving the River Cats a 2-1 lead.
The Chasers answered with a run of their own though in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI double down the left field line by Lance Zawadzki, driving in Manny Pina, who singled earlier in the inning. That tied the game 2-2, setting the stage for Cain’s game-winning RBI blooper in the seventh.
Kelvin Herrera took over for Mendoza, tossing the final two innings to pick up the save. He retired all six men he faced.
Here's a video showing him securing the final out against Parker:
Box Score
With the victory, the Chasers are now 4-1 in the playoffs, with just one more game remaining at Werner Park during the magical 2011 season. Right-hander Vin Mazzaro (8-2, 4.22 including postseason) will get the ball to face his former team, while Tyson Ross (3-3, 7.38 including postseason) will pitch for the River Cats.
