Round Rock was off last night but this morning the paper explains why Fernando Nieve has been hanging out in the Express bullpen.
“We just noticed that he gives us three or four really good innings and things start to go south after that,” Clark said.
Corpus Christi
The Hooks got a better start from Bud Norris and finally scored a run in the ninth inning ending a scoreless innings streak. But it wasn’t enough as the Missions beat the Hooks 4-1.
“I just met with them and I told them that in the ninth inning, I saw the signs that we’re trying to regroup,” Pujols said. “We got the bases loaded with no outs, so that shows me they didn’t give up.
“If you go back, we’ve been having a lot of big innings all year. This is the first time we’ve been in a drought, really, in (three straight) games. I’m not concerned. I liked what I saw today. We lost, but the guys swung the bats better and we played good defense.”
Tommy Manzella talks about his hot start out of the 2nd spot in the line up for the Hooks:
“Last year, when I would come up in the No. 2 hole, I was new in the lineup and I felt like I had to do something to stay up there,” Manzella said. “This year, I know day in and day out, that’s where I’m going to be. You have to have the right kind of person to be a table-setter and with Drew (Sutton hitting) lead-off and me in the two hole, I’m fine with what we’re doing as long as we’re scoring runs. I have no problem taking an 0 for 4 as long I contributed to one or two runs.”
His Manager adds:
“He’s been doing a great job in the No. 2 hole,” Hooks manager Luis Pujols said. “I think in this lineup, he’s the perfect guy to hit there because he does pretty much everything. That’s very important because you can do a lot of things with that player there.
“The way he plays, he’s a hard-nosed player who’s done everything we’ve asked for. He’s smart in the middle of the infield and I’m very impressed with the way he goes about his business.”
Salem
The game reminded me of the old Hee Haw skit with Roy Clark sitting in Archie Campbell’s barber’s chair.
Roy: Tim Torres had an error and was caught stealing.
Archie: That’s bad
Roy: No, it was good because he went 2 for 3 at the plate, with a homer and an RBI single. And Douglas Arguello pitched 4 innings and only allowed 3 hits and 2 walks.
Archie: That’s good!
Roy: No, that was bad. In one sequence, he hit the batter, who went to second on a wild pitch, went to 3rd on a ground out and scored on another wild pitch.
Archie: That’s bad.
Roy: No, it was good because the Avs held them to only that run for 8 2/3 innings.
Archie: That’s good.
Roy: No, with 2 outs in the ninth, the Keys scored 2 runs, with the winning run scoring on a wild pitch from Avs closer Jason Dominguez.
You might say “They scored another and Pffft you were gone.”
Lexington
Hagerstown got four runs of a pair of two run homers. Lexington hit into 3 double plays. The results were a 4-3 loss for the Legends.
“Missed opportunities, that’s the bottom line … At some point, we need to overcome that and just get it done and win. They’ve got to find a way to win a game.” — Legends Manager Gregg Langbehn