Singing the Blues
The Walleyes greet Curran Redal after he scores in the fourth inning of the first game.
Yakima Blues force a split against the ML Walleyes
It was a tale of two beginnings.
The Walleyes had the bases loaded in the first inning of both games of a double header at Larson Playfield Monday night. In the first game, they left the runners stranded and lost 6-3. In the second game, three runners scored and they never looked back.
The day game had the Walleyes consistently with runners on base, but they were unable to push them across.
With the score knotted at 1-1, they seemed poised to pull away in the fourth. Mac Anderson pulled off a hit-and-run, and a timely Yakima error allowed two to score. But the Walleyes failed on a suicide squeeze, ending the rally prematurely.
Derek Lefave pitched well until he ran into trouble in the fifth, allowing five consecutive singles.
The Walleyes had the tying run on second base with two outs in the fifth, and brought the tying run up to bat in the sixth, but both times failed to convert. Yakima won 6-3.
"We were pretty good at times," head coach Ryan Kies said. "They just got the bunt down when they needed to."
The nightcap was a different story.
Moses Lake got the hits when they needed them. They scored three runs in three different innings — led by consecutive triples by Brian McCaffery — and never looked back, winning the 9-6.
"(McCaffery) is really swinging a good bat," Kies. "That triple to left was just crushed."
Zane Bater knocked consecutive doubles and pitcher Brandon Price added a triple and two RBIs.
Price continually pitched himself into and then out of trouble, walking the bases loaded in the third and the fourth innings. But he wiggled off of the hook, first with a 1-2-3 double play and later by striking Blues' shortstop Hunter Sissom.
The Walleyes walked eight and plunked two in the second game, allowing Yakima to add a few runs to make it interesting.
"We really have to limit the walks," Kies said. "It's frustrating when you're leading 9-2 and you're walking the lead-off guy."
On the whole, Kies was said he was pleased with Price's outing. "He had a good fastball and a late-breaking curve," he said. "The walks were the only thing that kept him from a really good outing."