DPs and Shutout #7

Jayson Nix gets to third base, beneath PawSox's Garin Cacchini
Photo by Bernard Thomas, Durham Herald-Sun

Season: 37-25; Home Stand: 5-2
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Two runs in the 8th won the game, but let’s point out the quirky stuff before getting to that. Three double plays helped keep young Mr. Alex Colome out of trouble last night. In fact, they kept any PawSox runner from even getting to or beyond second base until the 9th inning.

Look a bit more closely and you discover that they were three completely different kinds of double plays. And that is the sort of thing we love here.

In the 1st the DP was a classic 6-4-3,  ground ball to shortstop Hak-Ju Lee, toss to Mike Fontenot covering second, and a nice throw to Wilson Betemit on first to wrap it up. Nice start to the inning.

Then in the next inning, with one out and a PawSox runner on first base, the batter struck out and catcher Mayo Acosta (nice to see him in a game, by the way) threw out the runner attempting a steal. K, 2-4 on the scoresheet.

The last DP came in the 6th when the PawSox again had one out and a runner on first. This time the batter hit a line drive to right field, Justin Christian caught it and threw to 1B Wilson Betemit to double off the runner. 9, 9-3 on the scoresheet.

So, if you now check out the box score you will see that Colome only let 5 guys on base in the game (4 singles and a walk), and of those 3 were ensnared in double plays. That is a terrific 8 innings of baseball.

Nevertheless, picking up the Bulls seventh shutout was not entirely easy. First they had to get some runs across and they never did solve knuckleballing PawSoxer Steven Wright. They did load the bases in the 3rd with none out, but could not score. They had to wait until they could deal with a more conventional guy in the 8th to get some runs across. In that inning they loaded the bases with one out. and a ground ball infield single by Justin Christian scored Hak-Ju Lee and a sac fly by Vince Belnome brought Mikie Mahtook home.

Closer Kirby Yates gave us a thrill in the 9th by serving up a leadoff triple in the 9th, then walking the fastest guy on the PawSox team, Mookie Betts. Yates was thereby doing his part for all of our cardio-vascular systems (I was watching from the top of the Monster by then). Coach Neil Allen came out for a talk (wonder what they say when they get out there?). Yates got the next three batters and all was right in the world.

Outside the game —

• Kevin Kiermaier hit a home run for the Tampa Bay Rays and Jerry Sands got his first major league hit, an RBI single last night. The Rays, unfortunately, lost, and have now dropped 10 in a row.
• Speaking of Kiermaier, he gets some love from The Process Report and we begin to wonder what will happen when Brandon Guyer and Wil Myers come off the DL. Will Kiermaier come back for more development (Sands will surely be back) or will he stay