Pirates drop 17th straight

BEND, Ore. — The Moses Lake Pirates dropped their 17th consecutive game to start the 2009 West Coast League season Monday night as the Bend Elks rolled to a 7-4 victory.

The Pirates fell to a league-worst 17 games below .500 following their three-run road loss to Bend.

Although the Pirates stayed winless following the loss, Moses Lake head coach Steve Keller said his team remained competitive Monday night.

“We had runners on in seven of nine innings,” he said. “We tried to make some stuff happen.”

Moses Lake took an early lead in the top of the second inning when the Pirates found their way onto the scoreboard for a 1-0 advantage.

Pirates starting pitcher Kacy Gardiner kept the Elks off of the scoreboard throughout his first two innings of work before Bend managed to get to the Moses Lake right hander in the bottom of the third.

With the Elks trailing 1-0, Bend was able to string together five consecutive no-out hits to start the third on their way to building a 5-1 lead over the Pirates.

Gardiner and the Moses Lake pitching staff was unable to adapt during Monday night’s contest, Keller said.

“We left some balls up,” he said. “The balls up hurt us. We couldn’t make any adjustments in the third inning.”

Bend pushed their four-run advantage to five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning before Keller was forced to turn to his bullpen with a runner on and two outs.

With the Pirates trailing 6-1 in the fourth, Keller brought in right-handed pitcher Brian Pullen to relieve Gardiner.

After pulling Gardiner from the game with a 6-1 deficit, Keller entrusted Pullen to get the Pirates out of the inning.

In his shortest relief appearance of the season, Pullen threw just nine pitches — one for a strike — in his second trip out of the bullpen for the Pirates.

After the Elks earned back-to-back walks to load the bases, Keller turned to his bullpen for the second time Monday night.

Keller brought Andy Greenstut on in relief to help the Pirates get out of the inning.

Greenstut hit the first batter he faced to give the Elks a 7-1 advantage before the Pirates were able to record the third out.

After the Elks pushed their advantage to 7-1 in the bottom of the fourth, the Pirates threatened to fight their way back into the contest in the fifth. Moses Lake’s Seth Anderson doubled with one out in the top of the inning and advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Moses Lake designated hitter Zane Bator struck out for the second out of the inning before shortstop Chris Casazza singled to drive in Anderson, cutting the Bend lead to 7-2.

The Pirates threatened to close the gap with Bend  in the top of the seventh inning when Bobrowski and Jye Lanphere hit back-to-back singles for Moses Lake.

Bator was able to  move Bobrowski and Lanphere each up a base with a sacrifice bunt before Casazza stepped up to the plate. Casazza singled to drive in a pair of runs and the Pirates pulled within 7-4.

The three-run deficit proved to be as close as the Pirates would get and Bend overcame four errors to stop Moses Lake.

The Pirates continue their three-game series with the Bend Elks tonight at 6:30 p.m.