photo image by Oakland Ballers

Grand Junction Jackalopes (2-8) 002 100 000 3 9 0

Oakland Ballers (6-4) 110 100 10x 4 5 0

Time: 2:53

Attendance: 1,628

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–It was an anomalous night this Friday at Ernie Raimondi Field. The thermometer read in the 70s, but a brisk wind led many of the 1,628 paying customers to layer up, only to take their extra layer off once the wind died down and then put it back on after sunset.

The sky was a brilliant blue that was smeared with the black smoke of a fire that burned behind the left side of the field, moving towards center, always, the PA announcer told us, at a safe distance from our West Oakland venue.

For the first half of the see-saw (or teeter totter if you’re a left coast native) contest, the scoreboard was a vast wasteland, devoid of information). The Ballers’ first run of their 4-3 squeaker victory over the tough luck Grand Junction Jackalopes crossed the plate in the person of a batter who had struck out.

It came on the feet of Tremayne Cobb, Jr., who was held hitless for only the second time this season. (The first occurred Wednesday). Grand Junction’s Johnnuelle Ponce, put the interlopers ahead 3-2 in the top of the fourth with a blast over the left center field fence that brought his BA up to .100. He was his team’s designated hitter. The visitors outhit their hosts by a working day, i.e. nine to five. My mother told me there’d be days like this….

Oakland’s unconventional first inning began with Cobb’s reaching first after striking out swinging at a wild pitch, reaching second on Lou Helmig’s groundout, stealing third, and trotting home on Christian Almanza’s single.

The B’s tacked on another talley in the second, again on their own fleet feet and the the poor control of Brock Gillis, the Jackalopes’ starter. Esai Santos, who’s been coming into his own recently, opened the frame with a walk, pilferred second, took third on a wild pitch, and then scored on another one.

Meanwhile, Reed Butz, opening night’s winning hurler for the Oaklanders, was breezing along. That breeze died down in the third. Zeb Roos smacked a one out double to right, Alex Pimental wrangled a walk, and Kendal Foster moved him up to second with a single to right center that brought Roos home with Grand Junction’s first run.

The two baserunners pulled off a double steal, which set the scene for catcher Mason Minzey’s sacrifice fly to left that allowed Pimental to waltz home with the tying run. Sic transit gloria mundi.

The team’s matched runs in the fourth, one a piece. Ponce’s round tripper to left center gave the Jackalopes a brief advantage. When Butz issued a free pass to Roos, the next batter he faced, his work for the evening was finished, leaving the B’s starter with a line of three runs, all of them earned, on five hits, including Ponce’s dinger, four walks, and couple of Ks. His truncated outing of 3-2/3 cost him 98 pitches and left him with a no decision.

In the home half of the frame, Cobb once more scored without benefit of a hit. He walked, and that ended Gillis’s unhappy mound tenure. He’d thrown 87 pitches and, after Tai Atkins, his replacement had allowed the runners he’d inherited to score, was charged three runs, all earned, in 3-2/3 innings. He struck out three B’s, a feat that couldn’t quite offset his three wild pitches.

Once Gillis had retired to the showers, Zach deVito, Ayan Alger, and Reese Miller took the mound for an inning each. Alger was the only one to allow a hit, two of them, in fact, and one of them was enough to score the winning run, Davis Drewek’s seventh inning home run over the left field fence. That made Alger the losing pitcher, and his balance sheet now stands at 0-1

Following Butz’s departure , a trio of Oakland relievers shut out the Jackalopes on four hits, one against each of Carson Lambert (2-1/3 IP), Connor Richardson (1-1/3), the eventual winning pitcher, and two off of Connor Sullivan, who earned his second save of the season.

Roos and Isaac Núñez had multi-hit games for Grand Junction, each with two. No Baller got more than one hit.

The weekend phase of this six game series begins Saturday at 4:35 and will conclude on Sunday, June 2. It’s been an exciting series, and the next two days promise more excitement. After that, the Ballers will leave on a two week road trip, returning to Ernie Raimondi Field on June 17.