On Sunday, speedy Tacoma leadoff man Darren Ford saw his 17-game hitting streak come to an end.
On Monday, he reminded us not to stereotype him.
Ford hit two home runs and was caught stealing in his only base-stealing attempt, basically doing everything that is not expected of him.
The fastest man on the Rainiers, Ford is a daring and highly successful thief on the bases. He rarely gets thrown out, so it was shocking to see him gunned down in the eighth inning of Tacoma’s 5-2 loss to Sacramento.
But how did the Rainiers score those two runs? A pair of solo homers by Ford, of course.
The 5-foot-9 Ford does have a bit of power. His career-high for homers in a season is nine, and he has hit 40 of them in 724 career games. But you certainly don’t expect him to go deep twice in one game – and he did just that, against all-star pitcher Graham Godfrey of Sacramento.
It was the second career two-homer game for Ford. He did it for Class-A San Jose in 2009, in a road game at Bakersfield on August 9 of that year.
Unfortunately, Ford’s teammates could muster only two singles for the remainder of the game, and Tacoma lost the opening game of the series.
Today is game two of the four-gamer, and it starts at 7:05 at Cheney Stadium. The broadcast will be on South Sound Sports 850 AM and streaming online right here. Tacoma starts RHP Brian Sweeney (4-2, 4.62) against Sacramento RHP Tyson Ross (3-2, 2.53).
Links:
- As always, we start with the Rainiers game story from The News Tribune.
- Headline we didn’t expect to see: Mariners “barrage” “hammers” Royals. Whooo!
- Blake Beavan flew to Kansas City and is starting for the Mariners today. A roster move is forthcoming – they will probably send down a reliever.
- Everett catcher Mike Zunino hit his first professional home run in a 11-2 shelling of the Salem-Keizer Volcanos.
- In the PCL, Colorado Springs scored ten runs in the bottom of the first inning and rolled on to a 15-6 win over Salt Lake. Tough day for Bees starter Eric Hurley.
- Las Vegas knocked the ball around Cashman Field and beat Fresno, 9-6. The paper focused on reliever Clint Everts, who was the 5th player chosen in the 2002 draft but has not yet reached the majors. Also, former Rainiers pitcher Nate Robertson signed with Vegas.
- It’s still monsoon season down in Tucson – the Aces and Padres reached the third inning last night before rain wiped out their game. The Tucson paper has a nice feature on hard-working Reno catcher
Sal FasanoKonrad Schmidt. - New Orleans infielder Donnie Murphy homered twice and the Zephyrs beat Iowa, 6-1. Murphy has 11 homers in 90 at-bats in the PCL this year.
- Mark Rogers tossed a gem and Nashville edged Round Rock, 3-1.
- Albuquerque’s defense was so bad last night that manager Lorenzo Bundy apologized to the fans. The Isotopes won anyway.
Tacoma has played Sacramento tough all year – the team was 6-6 against the River Cats entering this series. Let’s see if they can get ‘em tonight.
