AUBURN - For a quartet of Auburn Doubledays pitchers, it was almost a perfect game. For the rest of the team, it was still a pretty perfect win.
Glenn Gaston / Special to The Citizen
The Doubledays' J.P. Arencibia attempts to break up a double play as Jamestown's Carlos Piste throws to first during a game on Wednesday at Falcon Park in Auburn.
The Doubledays' J.P. Arencibia attempts to break up a double play as Jamestown's Carlos Piste throws to first during a game on Wednesday at Falcon Park in Auburn.
To say that Brett Cecil, Drew Taylor, Ryan Bird and Javier Nieves combined to throw an outstanding game against Jamestown on Wednesday would be an understatement. They combined to hurl a season high in strikeouts (14), with just two hits allowed and one walk that came in the ninth inning. Behind the mound, the Doubledays played errorless baseball in the 6-0 victory at Falcon Park. It's just the second shutout win for the Doubledays this season - the first was a 5-0 win over Mahoning Valley on June 27, with just three pitchers working.
“A four-pitcher shutout is something you don't see that often,” Doubledays manager Dennis Holmberg said. “Brett Cecil - we were going to back off a little bit, giving him only two innings to work. We wanted to give him some down time but keep him in the habit of pitching every fifth day. Drew Taylor stepped up and had three pretty great innings and Ryan Bird, in his first appearance, threw awesome. Javier came in and ends a good night and in any manager's real world, that's a good day.”
Taylor, who turns 25 today, picked up his first win and decision of the season after he added five strikeouts to Cecil's four in the first two innings.
“It's pretty cool,” Taylor said. “This was the first situation that I was in a place for a win, so it's kind of exciting. We came and our hitters had already done some work and put up a lead for us. It's kind of easy to pitch when the guys are hitting like that. It bought us some runs, so we could go out there and relax, hit our spots and it gave us the chance to go to work. The game shook out pretty well - everyone came in, did their job and we put together a pretty good outing.”
Jamestown shortstop Carlos Piste's one-out double in the fifth was the only hiccup in an otherwise perfect afternoon for Taylor. The idea of a no-hitter was already out window early when Rigoberto Silverio doubled in the first, but good infield play and another strikeout in the fifth is what got Taylor out of a sticky situation.
“I wasn't really worried about the hit,” said Taylor, a Toronto native. “I was more worried about the run. I didn't want them to get any kind of momentum. If you can strand a runner when they're hoping to score, it demoralizes them a little bit. When that guy got his double, I just tried to keep the ball low to the zone and make sure I got some ground balls so that we had a chance to make a play. Darin (Mastroianni) made a great play up the middle to get (Morgan Cummins) out and we came back and got a strikeout to keep (Piste) stranded. I think it was pretty important because it didn't give them any motivation.”
Piste was the last base runner until Nieves gave up a walk to Lucas Waters in the ninth.
The Doubledays racked up four runs on four hits in the first inning to get all the momentum they would need. Ben Zeskind, Adam Calderone and Victor Santana kicked off the game with consecutive singles. Santana knocked in the first run and Manny Rodriguez reached on a fielder's choice to reload the bases. With no outs, Calderone and Santana scored on consecutive wild pitches thrown by Alejandro Sanabia, who got his fourth loss of the season after just three innings. Auburn catcher J.P. Arencibia rounded out the inning with another RBI single to score Rodriguez.
Third baseman Wes Stone hit in Arencibia in the fourth, also off Sanabia, who was pulled immediately following the single that brushed his left leg and rolled past Piste's glove. Rodriguez added the final nail in the Jammers' coffin in the seventh on an RBI single to bring home Santana. Auburn racked up nine hits on the day, led by Arencibia and Stone, who had two each.
“It's always big when you score runs early, but you've got to be really careful though,” Holmberg said. “I've seen some teams score a lot of runs early and the next thing you know, it's 8-2, 8-3, 8-6 and so on. Some people put runs down and think the game is over. It's not as much that as it is not playing with as much intensity, or as much detail.”
The shutout was in danger with a runner on and no outs in the ninth, but once again, Auburn's defense rose to the task. Calderone made a routine catch in center field, Rodriguez made a nice flip back to Nieves for a second out at first base and Ryan Anetsberger was caught looking to shore up the scoreless effort.
“Shutouts are nice,” Taylor said. “But it was one of those things that you realize that you've got it at the end of the game. We just went out and when you look at the scoreboard when it's all said and done, and you've secured your win, you can say, 'Hey, we put together a shutout there, that's great'.”
At 25-17, the Doubledays have a 3.5 game lead over second place Mahoning Valley in the Pinckney Division. Auburn hosts third-place State College (19-22) today. The Spikes are 5.5 games back. The win over the Jammers gave the Doubledays their third sweep of the season, all over division rivals.
“Anytime you can sweep a ballclub, especially one that's in your division, is important,” Holmberg said. “We realize that State College is coming in before we're on the road again. Mahoning Valley is also on their own road trip while we're at home, so it's very important for us to pay attention to detail and just try to get that first game of the series. You've got to have that mindset sometimes.”
Notes: His first inning single stretched Ben Zeskind's hit streak to nine, currently the longest on the team...The last time the Doubledays pitched a no-hitter was versus Batavia on Aug. 26, 2005...The Jammers had no errors in the first two games of the series, but committed two on Wednesday...The Jammers and Doubledays meet five more times in seven games in September...Ryan Bird was promoted to the Doubledays from the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays on July 28...Not one of the nine hits was for extra bases, the first time that has happened in a win all season...The last time the Doubledays were held without an extra base hit was July 17, in a 7-1 loss with just six hits.
D-days Today
Record: 25-17
Standings: First place, 3.5-game lead
Streak: 3 wins
Next: vs. State College, 7 p.m.
“A four-pitcher shutout is something you don't see that often,” Doubledays manager Dennis Holmberg said. “Brett Cecil - we were going to back off a little bit, giving him only two innings to work. We wanted to give him some down time but keep him in the habit of pitching every fifth day. Drew Taylor stepped up and had three pretty great innings and Ryan Bird, in his first appearance, threw awesome. Javier came in and ends a good night and in any manager's real world, that's a good day.”
Taylor, who turns 25 today, picked up his first win and decision of the season after he added five strikeouts to Cecil's four in the first two innings.
“It's pretty cool,” Taylor said. “This was the first situation that I was in a place for a win, so it's kind of exciting. We came and our hitters had already done some work and put up a lead for us. It's kind of easy to pitch when the guys are hitting like that. It bought us some runs, so we could go out there and relax, hit our spots and it gave us the chance to go to work. The game shook out pretty well - everyone came in, did their job and we put together a pretty good outing.”
Jamestown shortstop Carlos Piste's one-out double in the fifth was the only hiccup in an otherwise perfect afternoon for Taylor. The idea of a no-hitter was already out window early when Rigoberto Silverio doubled in the first, but good infield play and another strikeout in the fifth is what got Taylor out of a sticky situation.
“I wasn't really worried about the hit,” said Taylor, a Toronto native. “I was more worried about the run. I didn't want them to get any kind of momentum. If you can strand a runner when they're hoping to score, it demoralizes them a little bit. When that guy got his double, I just tried to keep the ball low to the zone and make sure I got some ground balls so that we had a chance to make a play. Darin (Mastroianni) made a great play up the middle to get (Morgan Cummins) out and we came back and got a strikeout to keep (Piste) stranded. I think it was pretty important because it didn't give them any motivation.”
Piste was the last base runner until Nieves gave up a walk to Lucas Waters in the ninth.
The Doubledays racked up four runs on four hits in the first inning to get all the momentum they would need. Ben Zeskind, Adam Calderone and Victor Santana kicked off the game with consecutive singles. Santana knocked in the first run and Manny Rodriguez reached on a fielder's choice to reload the bases. With no outs, Calderone and Santana scored on consecutive wild pitches thrown by Alejandro Sanabia, who got his fourth loss of the season after just three innings. Auburn catcher J.P. Arencibia rounded out the inning with another RBI single to score Rodriguez.
Third baseman Wes Stone hit in Arencibia in the fourth, also off Sanabia, who was pulled immediately following the single that brushed his left leg and rolled past Piste's glove. Rodriguez added the final nail in the Jammers' coffin in the seventh on an RBI single to bring home Santana. Auburn racked up nine hits on the day, led by Arencibia and Stone, who had two each.
“It's always big when you score runs early, but you've got to be really careful though,” Holmberg said. “I've seen some teams score a lot of runs early and the next thing you know, it's 8-2, 8-3, 8-6 and so on. Some people put runs down and think the game is over. It's not as much that as it is not playing with as much intensity, or as much detail.”
The shutout was in danger with a runner on and no outs in the ninth, but once again, Auburn's defense rose to the task. Calderone made a routine catch in center field, Rodriguez made a nice flip back to Nieves for a second out at first base and Ryan Anetsberger was caught looking to shore up the scoreless effort.
“Shutouts are nice,” Taylor said. “But it was one of those things that you realize that you've got it at the end of the game. We just went out and when you look at the scoreboard when it's all said and done, and you've secured your win, you can say, 'Hey, we put together a shutout there, that's great'.”
At 25-17, the Doubledays have a 3.5 game lead over second place Mahoning Valley in the Pinckney Division. Auburn hosts third-place State College (19-22) today. The Spikes are 5.5 games back. The win over the Jammers gave the Doubledays their third sweep of the season, all over division rivals.
“Anytime you can sweep a ballclub, especially one that's in your division, is important,” Holmberg said. “We realize that State College is coming in before we're on the road again. Mahoning Valley is also on their own road trip while we're at home, so it's very important for us to pay attention to detail and just try to get that first game of the series. You've got to have that mindset sometimes.”
Notes: His first inning single stretched Ben Zeskind's hit streak to nine, currently the longest on the team...The last time the Doubledays pitched a no-hitter was versus Batavia on Aug. 26, 2005...The Jammers had no errors in the first two games of the series, but committed two on Wednesday...The Jammers and Doubledays meet five more times in seven games in September...Ryan Bird was promoted to the Doubledays from the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays on July 28...Not one of the nine hits was for extra bases, the first time that has happened in a win all season...The last time the Doubledays were held without an extra base hit was July 17, in a 7-1 loss with just six hits.
D-days Today
Record: 25-17
Standings: First place, 3.5-game lead
Streak: 3 wins
Next: vs. State College, 7 p.m.
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