Last night saw Andrew Abbott take the mound for the third time on the season. He entered the night not having allowed any runs, having given up just two hits, one walk, and he had struck out 25 batters.
On Wednesday night against Tennessee he was rolling along in a similar fashion. Through the first four innings he had given up just two hits, no runs, had one walk, and he had struck out eight batters. The 5th inning, though, didn’t go his way. The first batter of the inning lined an absolute rocket off of the wall in center for a leadoff double. Abbott then struck out the next two batters before a walk put two men on with two outs. The lefty buckled down and got Chase Strumpf to hit a shallow fly ball to center, but Ashton Creal lost the ball in the lights, over ran the ball, and then made a failed diving attempt at the ball before it fell in for what turned int o a 2-run double.
The inning ended when the next batter struck out, but the damage was done. Abbott had been charged with the first two runs of his season. Despite over a hundred years of scorekeeping we still haven’t given the scorekeeper the discretion to call plays like this an error when they clearly should have been cleanly fielded.
Andrew Abbott didn’t return to the mound the next inning and finished the night with this line: 5 innings, 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, and 11 strikeouts.
Even with the earned runs on his record that shouldn’t be, he’s now sitting with Chattanooga with a 1.15 ERA in 15.2 innings with just six hits allowed, just three walks, and he’s struck out 36 of the 56 batters that he’s faced (64.3%).
Let’s Go Streaking!
No, not like that! We’re talking about winning (and losing) streaks.
The Louisville Bats have only had streaks so far this year. The season began with a 2-game losing streak. It was followed by a 2-game winning streak. Unfortunately it was then followed up by a 9-game losing streak. But since then the team has won three straight. Here’s how yesterday’s game concluded:
On the flip side of the Bats winning streak, the Daytona Tortugas has also had streaks in their season. They started out on fire, going 5-0 to begin the year. But since then they have lost six games in a row.
On Wednesday they grabbed a 3-0 lead in the top of the 4th, but saw it erased immediately as Bradenton tied things up in the bottom half of the inning. Neither team scored again until the 10th when both brought around their free runner. The Tortugas brought their free runner in during the 11th, too, and took a 5-4 lead. Things went south in the bottom of the 11th as four straight walks brought in the tying and winning runs to keep the losing streak alive.
Chattanooga, at 7-4, is the only team in the organization with a winning record. Louisville is 5-11, Dayton is 4-7, and Daytona is now 5-6.