Unlucky Fourteen

Tacoma lost to Colorado Springs in the 14th inning last night, 5-4.

Two things about this game amazed me.

First, Tacoma pitchers combined to throw a no-hitter for 10.1 innings, from one out in the 4th until there were two outs in the 14th.

Charlie Haeger, Dan Cortes, Denny Bautista, and Cesar Jimenez held the Sky Sox hitless after the Rainiers fell behind 4-0 in the fourth. The pitchers combined to strike out 17 batters over the 14 innings.

The Rainiers came back, with Johan Limonta hitting a two-run homer, and Mike Wilson eventually tying the game with a sac fly in the bottom of the eighth.

Once we got into the extra innings, the Rainiers didn’t have much opportunity. Tacoma had a runner at second with one out in the ninth but couldn’t get that last hit, and then did not advance a runner past first base until the 14th inning.

The Sky Sox took the lead in the top of the 14th on a long two-out double by Jordan Pacheco, which scored Mike Paulk from first base.

In the bottom of the 14th, Matt Tuiasosopo led off with a double, but he was stranded at second base as Jim Miller nailed down the save for the Sky Sox.

The second thing that amazed me was the time of game: it lasted “only” 4 hours, 1 minute. Think about that – we played a bit more than a game-and-a-half in four hours. That’s not even half of a Fresno airport delay.

If you had told me to guess the time of a 14-inning game, I would have guessed upwards of 4:30.

So, at least it was a “quick” 14 innings.

Tacoma is now 1-5 since the Ackley call-up. Daren Brown says it often takes a week to bounce back from a big player loss in Triple-A, and this will be a week today.

Tonight’s game is at 7:05 pm, and you can hear it on 850 AM and streaming online here. Tacoma starts LHP Luke French (3-5, 6.16) against Sky Sox RHP Alan Johnson (1-3, 6.16). Check it out – identical ERAs. That’s weird.

French was activated from the temporarily inactive list today – he was on it while his wife gave birth to their first child, a son named Whitten (I’m not sure I spelled that correctly).

Pitcher Fabio Castro has been placed on the disabled list with an injury to his left foot, which has bothered him during his last two starts. Castro was shuffling around in a boot yesterday. While I don’t have the medical specifics, the feeling is that this is not serious.

Let’s hit the links:

• Here is the Rainiers game story from The News Tribune, written by Chris Wells.
• The boys over at The Weekly Volcano thought the Rainiers were going to win last night – so did I.
• The Mariners suffered a brutal loss yesterday, and they can’t let it get in their heads. Larry Stone reminds us that it is a marathon, not a sprint, so let’s not spazz out. He worded it somewhat differently.
• In the PCL, Cody Ransom moved into Wily Mo Pena’s cleanup spot and homered twice, leading the first-place Aces to a 13-6 rout of Las Vegas. Tacoma fell to ten games back.
• It looks like Barry Zito is ready: he tossed a complete-game, 118-pitch two-hit shutout against Salt Lake last night. The Giants have a doubleheader early next week and I suspect Barry will start one of the games. In a PCL RG’s dream game, the Zito shutout clocked in at 1:57.
• Fresno signed catcher Max Ramirez, who is really well-travelled in the last three months.
• Tucson shortstop Everth Cabrera is off the disabled list, but the T-Pads lost to Sacramento in ten innings yesterday, 4-3.
• Memphis was tied in Iowa 3-3 after six, so they scored seven runs in the seventh inning and tacked on some more for a 13-3 walloping of the I-Cubs. Adron Chambers homered twice, and Memphis has won 14 of 17.
• Omaha’s Jeff Suppan said “Barry who?” and tossed his own two-hit shutout.
• The Round Rock at New Orleans game was suspended because the rain came down so hard, they couldn’t pull the tarp fast enough.
• My Cal Bears won their first College World Series game since 1980. Not they have to face the #1-ranked University of Virginia Mariners again.

Tonight, I think we should play eight-and-a-half innings.

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