Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408240064
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
An illustration was at hand Tuesday night with 3,230 spectators in attendance at Salem Municipal Field.
A look at the box score would have indicated the Buccaneers' Matt Ryan, a 5-2 loser to the Kinston Indians, had one dreadful ninth inning of relief pitching. The bad numbers were all there: four hits, one walk, three runs.
Yep, you might say, old Matt got lit up.
But that hardly was the case.
Of the four hits, only one of them had any spunk to it. The walk was intentional. And although Mitch House's error at first base that allowed an unearned run is down at the bottom of the box score, you'd never have known the gaffe occurred on Ryan's watch.
``We kick one at first base, a couple of choppers here and a guy hits a flat [curveball] and that's the ballgame,'' said Trent Jewett, Salem's manager. ``Ryan didn't pitch bad; none of our pitchers pitched bad. We lost. Losing [is distasteful].''
Juan Andujar did tag one pretty well, flat-lining it to the gap in left center for a two-run double.
``An 0-1 count and he threw me a fastball,'' said the Dominican shortstop. ``I was looking for a fastball.''
Whatever Epi Cardenas and Greg Thomas - the two who had reached ahead of Andujar - were looking for, they didn't hit the ball very hard. Both pounded pitches into the dirt. So did Eddie Lantigua, whose chopper Ryan had to watch helplessly as the third run of the inning and last of the night came across.
``Eddie Lantigua could have given up after leaving the bases loaded twice, but he didn't do it, and that's nice to see,'' said Dave Keller, Kinston's manager. ``He played some kind of defense on all kinds of different plays, too. They say your offense sometimes affects your defense, but I didn't see it there.''
Lantigua had left the sacks full in the third after Salem starter Steve Parris had loaded the bases with none out. One run scored that inning, that coming on Andujar's groundout. Parris fanned Lantigua in the fifth with three on and one in.
``Things like that usually come back to haunt you,'' said Keller, whose team stranded 10. ``We had so many chances in the first eight innings. Yeah, the balls in the ninth weren't hit hard. But it got some guys on base.''
``They didn't hit much of anything hard all night,'' Jewett said.
Salem's Jake Austin did. He smacked a third inning two-run homer off left-hander Casey Whitten, a second-round draft choice out of Indiana State in 1993. That was one of only four hits off Whitten, but it did give the Bucs a 2-0 lead. Cesar Ramos surrendered one walk and two hits in three innings of relief work.
``He did a great job for us,'' Keller said of Ramos. ``He got a lot of ground balls and pitched very well.''
The tying runs belonged to Parris.
``Except for Austin, we never got the two-out hits,'' Jewett said. ``You need to do that in that type of game. They did and we didn't.''
BUCSHOTS: Jon Farrell continued his hot hitting by going 2-for-4 with a double. Farrell is 14 for his past 22 (.636). ...Infielder Ramon Zapata was called up to Class AA Carolina after leading the team with a .293 batting average. Zapata is the eighth player to go to the Mudcats this season. ...The last game at Municipal Field, the Aug.28 match with the Lynchburg Red Sox, is being touted as the Coors Light/WROV-FM Rock 'N' Roll Farewell Party. Gates open at 5 p.m. and the first pitch will be at the special time of 6 p.m. Once the game is complete, fans will be asked to join a postgame party featuring music provided by WROV personalities and several live and prerecorded interviews with former and current players, coaches and dignitaries discussing the history of Municipal Field.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB