One play really exemplified this game tonight between the Spirit and the Grays. In the bottom of the 7th inning, with 2 outs in the inning and the Spirit up 3-0, Mayke Cabrera tapped a grounder right at Chris Farley. Farley picked up the ball and uncorked a horrific throw to first base, sailing well past Alex Trezza and allowing Ben Tinius to score from 2nd base. At the end of the play, Farley let out a loud, very audible “F-bomb” which was clearly heard by all 15 or so people in attendance.
That play summed up what was a fairly miserable night at the ballpark. 8 errors were made in the game, the weather was very, very bad, and the crowd probably never numbered more than 150 people. At the end of the game, there were no more than 20 people in attendance. It truly was a bleak night. Luckily for the Spirit, the Grays had more “f-bomb” moments than they did on the night.
At the end of the day the Spirit got the “W” and that’s all that matters. Kevin Fitzgerald pitched around some trouble to earn a rocky and much-needed save, as the Spirit won the game 5-3. The save preserved the victory for Chris Farley, who pitched 6 2/3 excellent innings, yielding just one run on two hits and whiffing twelve.
Dennis Robinson really struggled in the eighth inning with the Spirit up 4-1. Josue Gonzalez knocked a leadoff single to start the inning. Then, Gavin Monjaras blasted an RBI double to left field to cut the lead to 4-2. Donny Langdon came in to pitch with two outs and got Chad Gabriel to hit a grounder at Mike Torres, but Torres airmailed the throw, allowing a Grays run to score to make it 4-3.
NorthShore got a critical insurance run in the 9th on a very typical trip by BJ Weed. Weed reached on a walk, got to 2nd when a pickoff attempt was thrown away, reached 3rd on a balk by Tony O’Donnell, and scored on an infield hit by Jerson Perez.
Fitzgerald was a bit iffy in the 9th again. Cabrera led off the inning with a walk and Chris Baker got aboard on an error by the shortstop Jerson Perez. A sac bunt by Gonzalez moved the tying runs into scoring position, but Fitz clamped down from there, striking out Monjaras and getting Colafamena to fly out to center to end the game and end a cold, dreary night at the ballpark.
Early on, it looked like the game would be quick and painless as Chris Farley and Elliott Shaw traded goose eggs until the Spirit broke through in the top of the 4th. Darren Blakely doubled to left field to start the inning and reached 3rd on (surprise) a failed pickoff attempt (this happened a lot tonight). He was brought home on an RBI 6-3 groundout by Carlos Rodriguez.
More hilarity then ensued. Alex Trezza and Mike Torres picked up back to back singles and reached 2nd and 3rd on an awful throwing error by the leftfielder after Torres’s base knock. Trezza scored on a wild pitch by Elliott, and Torres scored when Wally Rosa’s grounder went right through the wickets of Grays shortstop Gavin Monjaras.
Elliot settled down after that as Farley continued to cruise, striking out ten batters in his first five innings of work. He never really got in to trouble until the seventh, where he was eventually lifted. Derek Drage and Donny Langdon appeared in the ballgame in addition to Farley, Robinson and Fitzgerald – so a big outing by Bicondoa tomorrow night in Worcester would be nice. He’s more than capable.
All in all, it wasn’t pretty, but the Spirit got the job done --- an improvement from the last series against these same Grays, wherein it wasn’t pretty AND they lost. So it’s a starting point. The Spirit are now right in the thick of the CanAm race despite their rough start to the year. It’s on to Worcester now for a real test against another quality opponent.
Oh, another note: The PA announcer was actually good --- very good --- tonight. I'm guessing it's because of the lack of people in attendance - he decided to tone it down and do his job.
