Five-game playoff series are tricky things. One bad bounce, one bad call, one pitch in the dirt can lead to a shift in momentum that changes the outcome of not only a game but also a series. In such a short series, it’s the little things that have the ability to play such a huge role in advancing or going home. Don’t get me wrong – – the Richmond Flying Squirrels didn’t get lucky during their 4-2 victory over the Senators on Saturday night. In the end, Richmond deserved to win. But the Senators will look back at this game at all the opportunities they had that they failed to cash in on.
They’ll remember the hard hit ball Adam Fox connected with that would have brought home an insurance run in the sixth inning thinking if it was only ten feet left or right of leftfielder Wendell Fairley. They’ll remember the block in the dirt and subsequent bad throw to third from Derek Norris that allowed the Flying Squirrels to move up a base with the tying runs in the eighth and wish he had never thrown it. They’ll remember the chopper that was over third baseman Tim Pahuta’s outstretched reach hoping it was just a little lower. They’ll remember the throw from Erik Komatsu on a shallow fly ball to center willing it to be more on line with home plate. And they’ll definitely remember Chris Rahl’s scorching liner that rightfielder Francisco Peguero almost misplayed into a 3-2 win for Harrisburg.
But, unless something changes quickly on Sunday and Monday, the Senators will only have their memories of what might have been in these playoffs and not what really was.
Manager Tony Beasley on…
…the difference between the two clubs with runners in scoring position this series
“But you have to credit them (the Flying Squirrels). Just about every time they have opportunity to score runs, they’ve taken advantage of it. And I think we have not so far. We had an opportunity in the seventh to score a big run to get Rahl in from third base and we failed to get him in and make it 3-0. You’ve got to score runs. It’s all about scoring runs.”
…Shairon Martis’ seven-inning, one-hit performance
“You tip your hat to the way he battled and competed. He kept the game at bay. We went with him as long as we could as far as pitch count is concerned. He did his job tonight. We were hoping that the bullpen could come in and give us two shutdown innings. We just didn’t get it.”
Richmond’s bullpen
“They’re pretty good especially Lively and Hembree. They’ve done a good job against us all year and they had full rest because they hadn’t used them against us yet (in this series). They can mix and match with you. They have good arms in the pen, power arms. Correa came in last night throwing 95. They have a good bullpen so you want to try and have the lead late in the ballgame.”
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Probables: Tanner Roark (HAR) 9-9, 4.69 vs. Justin Fitzgerald (RIC) 9-9, 3.51
Chris McConnell and Stephen King
Tim Pahuta
First Pitch
Shairon Martis
Derek Norris
Chris Rahl connects with his 6th inning triple
Mayflies & Big Flies 