Danville Braves

The team has really been struggling lately.  We have not been playing how we should be.  We just got swept by the Danville Braves tonight...and nobody was happy about it.

Game 2 - We were tied 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth.  I came in to pitch in the top of the ninth and came away unscathed.  Going into the bottom of the ninth, we had the middle of our lineup coming up so we all felt confident we would have a chance to win.  We had base runners on second and third with one out, but were unable to produce the winning run.  I went back out for the top of the tenth.  I retired the first guy with no problems.  The second guy was their number three hitter (their best hitter).  I threw a fastball inside that I think should have been called a strike, but it wasn't.  From then on, we did not give him anything to hit because he was by far their best hitter.  I unintentionally intentionally walked him, meaning I did not give him anything to hit and stayed away from him.  The following hitter, swung at a fastball by his hands on the first pitch.  The next pitch was a slider away that he didn't offer at.  It was now 1-1.  I threw a fastball inside that was called for a ball followed by a fastball away that was called a ball.  Both pitches were close and could have gone either way.  The count was now 3-1.  I threw a fastball right down the middle that he fouled off.  I tried it again and he fouled it off...so I did it again...and he fouled it off.  He fouled off 6 fastballs in a row.  The count was now 3 balls and 2 strikes.  I threw a slider that was just out of the zone, but he did not offer at it.  There were now guys on first and second with one out.

The manager came to relieve me because my pitch count was getting too high.  He brought in a Dominican that throws really hard, but does not have the best idea of where it's going.  Unfortunately, this was the case once again.  The first batter grounded out to second, but the runners advanced.  So there was now runners on second and third with 2 outs.  He then threw a wild pitch that the catcher could not handle and the run scored.  We were down 6-5.  He went on to retire the batter via ground out and the inning was over.

We could not manage to tie it up in the bottom of the tenth and then game ended.  They won 6-5.

Game 3 - Tonights game was uneventful...nothing special happened in the game.  We lost 4-3...another one run ball game.  The last 4 games have been one run ball games!  The tide has to turn at some point right?  The one upside of the game was our first rounder threw lights out.  He came in in the 5th and pitched 5 scoreless innings.

Tomorrow we start our next series against the Bristol White Sox...hopefully we can get back on track and string together some wins!  We have to get the first one though!