Starting Your Own Troubles
With two outs in the bottom of the third inning, Matt Manship hit Brad Boyer,
initiating a two out rally. After Colt Sedbrook advanced Boyer to third
off a single up the middle, David Plante smoked a line drive to first basemen
Brent Milleville, who couldn't come up with the catch, allowing the runner on
third to score. After a brief discussion in the press box, the play was
ruled as an error on Milleville, although the call could have gone the other
way. Had Manship avoided to hit Boyer and picked up the out, there would
have been no need for the hit/error debate.
Manship would also get behind early in counts. Bill Rhinehart's solo
homerun to lead off the bottom of the third came on a 2-1 count. With one
out in the bottom of the fourth, Manship walked Sedbrook and hit Plante.
Manship fell behind 3-1 to Jason Donald before giving up a full-count ground
ball single to score Sedbrook.
More Pitching Woes
Manship left the game trailing 3-2 after 5 1/3 innings of work and with
runners on first and second. David Stringer gave up hits to the two
batters he faced before Sean Ratliff ended the inning with two consecutive outs.
Rhinehart started the seventh with a single of Ratliff before he was relieved
in favor of Nolan Gallagher. Gallagher got a four-pitch strikeout against the
first batter he faced, giving Cardinalmaniacs™ hope that Mark Marquess finally
found the reliever that would stop the offensive onslaught. However,
Gallagher would record no outs against the next four batters he faced, letting
Arizona move ahead 9-3. Erik Davis was then brought in from the bullpen
but gave up a run on a single and allowed another to score off a sacrifice fly.
Blake Holler was finally able to end the inning with a one-pitch ground out
before he gave up a run off a single to pinch hitter Travis Peep in the eighth.
In the last two games, the Stanford pitching staff was torched for 26 runs.
They received little help from the defense in those two games, as the defense
committed five errors.
Double Plays and Runners Left On
It's difficult to overcome an early deficit when you keep hitting into double
plays and leaving runners on base. Ryan Seawell led off the game with an
opposite field single before John Hester hit into a double play.
Stanford left two on in the second and fourth innings. Hester hit into
his second double play of the day to end the fourth with Jim Rapoport on second
and Seawell on first. The Cardinal left one on in the fifth after driving
in their first two runs of the game to make the score 3-2 in favor of Arizona.
The Wildcats responded with three runs of their own in the sixth.
Needing an answer, Austin Yount fouled off a pitch with a 3-2 count before
doubling along the left field line. Seawell was then hit by a pitch.
However, Hester hit into his third and final double play of the evening.
Chris Minaker's single scored Yount before Michael Taylor's strike out ended an
inning that started with potential but finished with only one runner crossing
home.
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