Two 1-0 Shutouts in a Row!

Season: 53-60; Home Stand: 1-0; Bulls v. Braves: 8-8; 

Home Games Left: 18

Standings, Box, Wrap, Herald-Sun, Indy Week

For the first time this year, Bulls pitching put together two shutouts in a row. Congrats!

Somewhat similar to last Tuesday, the offensive side was small ball writ large: Nevin Ashley drew a walk, went to third on a Rich Thompson single, and scored when new guy Brooks Conrad hit into a double play. That was enough.

In the meantime, Chris Archer had his best game of the year. Six scoreless innings, no walks, one hit batter (to my eye the batter came out of the batter’s box and back in the dark ages of baseball would not have been called as a hit by pitch … but he (Jose Constanza) really was hurt by Archer’s fastball and had to leave the game), and 3 Ks. Tight control. MiLB story here.

His Braves counterpart, Yohan Flande is a pitcher who sometimes the Bulls get to and sometimes he gets to them. This time he got to them, mostly, even if he did take the loss.

The other big story was that the scoreboard got fixed and we had lights for balls, strikes, outs, hits, and errors. Don’t know about the Bull. The last time a Bulls batter hit a home run was on July 26 down in Gwinnett’s home park. Home runs are not a Bulls thing this year. So we may not find out for a while.

Well, maybe there is another big story. Former Bull (briefly) Evan Longoria was back in town and helped explain the 8,000 plus who came to a Thursday night game. They got to see him hit a single, draw a walk, and strike out twice. As much fun as it is to have him here, from a pure Bulls fan point of view the problem is that when he does get his eye back, he will be outa here. Nevertheless, the Herald-Sun and N&O write-ups are good reads. 

Outside the game —

• According to both the Herald-Sun and Indy Week, Will Rhymes has been called up to Tampa Bay.
• Last night probably wasn’t new guy Brooks Conrad’s first time in the DBAP. He played 110 games with Gwinnett back in 2009.
• A circus act, the Russian Bar Trio, performed between innings, and drove the cynic out of me. They really were fun to watch. Wonder how they get the bar into their carry-on luggage? Couple of good videos at their website.