Baseball Lifer

The River Cats’ home woes continue, as the Albuquerque Isotopes came in and took the opener of this six-game series, 5-2.

Tristan Beck made the start for Sacramento, and despite giving up a massive solo home run to Carlos Perez in the top of the first inning, Beck got off to a great start He set down the next eight men he faced after Perez’s home run, as he set down nine of his first 11 overall, and he struck out seven through his first three and a third innings.

However, the Isotopes put up a three spot in the top of the fourth, as Beck wanted nothing to do with his new arch nemesis, Carlos Perez, and walked him. Alan Trejo then walked, and after Beck struck out Coco Montes for his season-high eighth strikeout, Jonathan Morales walked, which loaded the bases for D.J. Peterson, who cleared the bases with a double to right-center to open Albuquerque’s lead to 4-0. Beck gave up another run in the fifth, and despite giving up five runs over that span, he still struck out 10.

Meanwhile, the River Cats’ offense was stagnant against Colorado Rockies’ starter Antonio Senzatela, who went five innings in a rehab start for Albuquerque tonight. The River Cats wasted a one-out double by Heliot Ramos in the bottom of the first. Jason Vosler put the River Cats on the board with a home run to right in the bottom of the fourth, but that would be it against Senzatela, who went five innings.

The River Cats had a shot in the bottom of the seventh, as they loaded the bases with two outs for Donovan Walton, who singled to right to make the score 5-2. Heliot Ramos then came up as the potential go-ahead run, and after he hit a long fly ball to right that was starting to tail away, Isotopes right-fielder, Bret Boswell made a nice over-the-shoulder catch to end the inning. That would be it for Sacramento, as Justin Lawrence and Zach Lee set down the River Cats 1-2-3 in the eighth and ninth innings, respectably.

The pitching stats were very unusual tonight, as Tristan Beck took the loss after going five innings, giving up five runs and striking out 10, and really despite the fact that his stuff was good tonight. Antonio Senzatela, on the other hand, got the win, despite not striking out anybody through his five innings tonight. Zach Lee of course got the save for Albuquerque.

The River Cats have dropped their second-straight to fall to 37-48, and they will most likely fall to 11 and a half games back of the Las Vegas Aviators in the Pacific Coast League West. There will be a quick turnaround, as the two teams will go up against each other in Game 2 of this series tomorrow at 12:05.