Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 19, 1993 TAG: 9304190241
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Eight of the Bucs' 11 hits went for extra bases, and two of them were home runs. Salem turned two double plays, was the beneficiary of a rare batter's interference call that ended in an inning-ending double play, Marty Neff gunned down a runner at the plate and Tony Womack stole home.
All that got them was another big loss when the Keys exploited the little stuff to claim a 7-6 Carolina League victory in 11 innings at sunbathed Municipal Field.
Three pitching flubs in the 11th inning with the score 6-6 may have been Salem's most deadly mistakes. First was the leadoff walk to Basilio Ortiz by Kevin Rychel, fresh out of the bullpen. Then there was Rychel nailing Alex Ochoa, the second batter, to put men on first and second with no outs.
That brought on Michael Teich to succeed Rychel, and Teich promptly gave the Keys a hand when he couldn't handle Brad Sietzer's bunt. Jose Millares then cashed in his team's good fortune with a sacrifice fly that brought home Ortiz, providing painful illustration of every dugout cliche there ever was about leadoff walks.
"Heck of a rally," Bucs manager Scott Little said. "They don't hit the ball 10 feet and they have the bases loaded."
The Bucs showed some life with a double from pinch hitter Chance Sanford to lead off their half of the inning, and he proceeded to third on a sacrifice from Jon Farrell, who was 2-for-2 with his fourth home in three games to that point.
Some may have questioned the strategy of a Farrell bunt or a previous (failed) ninth-inning sacrifice attempt by Neff, who also had hit a home run and has four for the year, but Little said that was the way the Pittsburgh Pirates organization did things.
"Those are the fundamentals in that situation," he said. "Farrell did his job. Neff tried, but it didn't work. These guys have got to learn how to do it at this level. If anybody wants to question that, they can come to me."
Continuing in the 11th, Sanford goofed a take-off-on-contact play and was caught at the plate when Neff grounded to second base.
"He was going on contact, but if he sees he's a dead out, then he's supposed to make sure he gets caught in a rundown play so that we move the runner into scoring position," Little said.
Dave Paveloff faced two batters to earn his second save.
Salem, which lost for the fourth time in six home dates, had tied the score in the seventh on Neff's two-run homer.
"It was a good one to win, but it was an ugly game," Keys manager Pete Mackanin said. "We made too many mistakes. But when you win, you tend to overlook those things."
\ BUCSHOTS: Frederick played the last eight innings under protest because of the batter's interference call. The call was made when Seitzer swung for the third strike and became tangled with catcher Tim Marx, who could not get off a throw to third to get Ochoa, who was trying to steal. Ochoa was ruled out on the interference, and, with the strikeout, it was a double play. Mackanin argued the contact was unintentional and thus Seitzer should have struck out and Ochoa returned to second. . . . The weather was delightful, but only 1,482 fans showed up. "People ask why we don't have more day games," Salem general manager Sam Lazzaro said. "I'd love to. But people don't seem to come." \
see microfilm for box score
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB