The Billings Mustangs entered the final week of the season on the road against Great Falls. It is just a two game series, but it’s a very important one. The Mustangs entered Monday night in 3rd place, trailing both Great Falls and Missoula by 2.0 games. Missoula won the first half, so in reality the Mustangs are in need of catching up with the Voyagers. In a situation where the two teams tie, but finish behind Missoula, their head-to-head record on the season comes into play. Great Falls led the season series 7-6 before the series began. Jhon De Jesus took the mound for Billings and he stepped up in a big way.
The 20-year-old right hander put together the best start of his 2017 season. He would throw 6.0 shutout innings against Great Falls, allowing just four hits and a walk during the game. He also had eight strikeouts, needing just 79 pitches to get through his outing.
Jhon De Jesus had seven ground outs with just two fly outs in the game. He entered the night with a ground ball rate of 50% on the season and improved that on the night. It was a nice rebound for the righty, who had allowed five earned runs in four of his last five starts after a nice start to his season. He now has 58 strikeouts and 30 walks in 60.2 innings for the Mustangs in 2017.
Michael Beltre destroys Lansing pitching
With Dayton heading to the playoffs, which start on Wednesday, Michael Beltre may have picked the perfect time to go on the best run of his life at the plate. Over the final three games of the season in Lansing, Beltre went 9-for-11 and he walked three times. 14 trips to the plate and 12 times on base.
Just how good of a stretch was that? Well, usually late in the season it’s tough to make a real dent on your overall slash line because you are dealing with such a large sample size that three games won’t do much. Entering September, Beltre had an OPS of just .614. In those three games he raised his season OPS to .647.