AUBURN - It wasn't a blowout, but for once, the Auburn Doubledays win over Batavia wasn't by one run, either.
Glenn Gaston / Special The Citizen
Doubledays starting pitcher Chi-Hung Cheng unloads a pitch against the Muckdogs in Sunday's game at Falcon Park.
Doubledays starting pitcher Chi-Hung Cheng unloads a pitch against the Muckdogs in Sunday's game at Falcon Park.
The Doubledays are now 10-1 over the Muckdogs this season, after defeating them 6-3 at Falcon Park on Sunday. Seven of the 10 wins have been by one run, including Saturday's 5-4 win in Batavia.
“We play a lot of one-run ballgames,” Doubledays manager Dennis Holmberg said. “I don't want to say that they're a bad ballclub, but they're a ballclub that is not winning a lot of ballgames and we seemed to be playing to the level of competition. We've got to not let teams hang around, giving them a chance. You just can't and that's the defensive side, the pitching side. You don't want to pick up the paper and have it read 'Missed Opportunities.'”
That won't be the case today, after the Doubledays racked up 10 hits, leaving just four batters stranded. The Muckdogs appeared to give the game away early, when they spotted Auburn two runs on three errors in the second inning. Batavia pitcher Brandon Garner should have had a 1-2-3 inning, but two throwing errors on second baseman Will Groff and another on Ross Oeder at shortstop prevented that from happening.
Garner, who lasted through the fourth, had only one run earned on his watch, when Shawn Scobee scored JP Arencibia in the fifth to stretch the team's lead to 3-0.
Scobee completed the night with two RBIs; he had a sacrifice flyout to left field to score Brad Emaus in the second.
The defensive side, including the pitching, took care of business on their end for most of the game. Chi-Hung Cheng made his second start and nabbed his second win on extended rehab assignment from Class A Lansing. Cheng went five innings, fanning seven batters and giving up just two hits and a walk.
“Chi-Hung did a great job,” catcher Arencibia said. “The way he spotted the ball, he threw his off-speed for strikes and he was ahead of guys the whole game.”
“Cheng was outstanding tonight,” Holmberg added. “He threw the ball much better. He threw strikes, he had good command, his breaking ball, his changeup, his fastball. He's a guy that's been on the disabled list and is working his way back to health and tonight was a pretty good indication of what he's returning to.”
Javier Nieves came in to replace Cheng and gave up three consecutive hits, with no outs, including an RBI single by Andrew Brown. Following the Muckdogs' first run though, he struck out the side, throwing just one ball. Alan Farina came off the disabled list for the first time since Aug. 2 and lasted 2-3 of the eighth inning, giving up two more runs on a Jonathan Edwards double.
“This was his first appearance in almost a month,” Holmberg said of Farina. “He was going to be a little nervous perhaps, a little jittery. Certainly, he's got a good arm, he's been on and off this season but it's tough to be away from something and go out there in a pressure situation.”
By the time that Farina came into the game, the Doubledays had racked up a 6-1 lead, thanks in part to Arencibia's two run double in the sixth to score Manny Rodriguez and Emaus. It was Arencibia's second double of the game and his fifth hit in two days.
“Me and Justin (Mashore, hitting coach) have been just working a lot,” Arencibia said. “I've always been a hitter and I've just been staying with it, working hard and that has gotten me results the last couple of nights. I was trying to look for a pitch up in the zone to drive in those runs (in the sixth), that's all I wanted to do.”
Other players of note offensively were Darin Mastroianni, who stretched his hitting streak to 12 games with a single in the first on his 22nd birthday, Adam Calderone, who hit an RBI single in the seventh and Carlos Vasquez, who filled in for Ben Zeskind in the leadoff spot on offense and for Mastroianni, who was the DH, at second base. He rose to the challenge at both positions, going 3-for-4 with a triple and assisting on three defensive plays flawlessly in a spot that he hasn't played since July 31.
“When Ben had a ball bounce off his foot last night, I thought I'd give him the night off. It was a combination of that and he was struggling with the bat just a little bit, he puts a lot of pressure on himself,” Holmberg said. “I just thought to myself, who has been swinging the bat pretty good? Vasquez has been that guy. Lo and behold, he stepped in and got three hits and played pretty good defense out there. He was a nice addition and he gave Mastroianni a day off. It was a combination of Zeskind getting a rest and Darin getting a rest, knowing full well that Vasquez was capable of getting a couple of hits.”
Joe Wice earned his fifth save of the year after striking out three in the final 1 1-3 innings.
With 12 games to go, Auburn (39-25) has a five-game lead over Mahoning Valley for the Pinckney Division lead. They head to Batavia (25-37) today.
D-days Today
Record: 39-25
Standings: First place, 5-game lead
Streak: 3 wins
Next: at Batavia, today, 7 p.m.
“We play a lot of one-run ballgames,” Doubledays manager Dennis Holmberg said. “I don't want to say that they're a bad ballclub, but they're a ballclub that is not winning a lot of ballgames and we seemed to be playing to the level of competition. We've got to not let teams hang around, giving them a chance. You just can't and that's the defensive side, the pitching side. You don't want to pick up the paper and have it read 'Missed Opportunities.'”
That won't be the case today, after the Doubledays racked up 10 hits, leaving just four batters stranded. The Muckdogs appeared to give the game away early, when they spotted Auburn two runs on three errors in the second inning. Batavia pitcher Brandon Garner should have had a 1-2-3 inning, but two throwing errors on second baseman Will Groff and another on Ross Oeder at shortstop prevented that from happening.
Garner, who lasted through the fourth, had only one run earned on his watch, when Shawn Scobee scored JP Arencibia in the fifth to stretch the team's lead to 3-0.
Scobee completed the night with two RBIs; he had a sacrifice flyout to left field to score Brad Emaus in the second.
The defensive side, including the pitching, took care of business on their end for most of the game. Chi-Hung Cheng made his second start and nabbed his second win on extended rehab assignment from Class A Lansing. Cheng went five innings, fanning seven batters and giving up just two hits and a walk.
“Chi-Hung did a great job,” catcher Arencibia said. “The way he spotted the ball, he threw his off-speed for strikes and he was ahead of guys the whole game.”
“Cheng was outstanding tonight,” Holmberg added. “He threw the ball much better. He threw strikes, he had good command, his breaking ball, his changeup, his fastball. He's a guy that's been on the disabled list and is working his way back to health and tonight was a pretty good indication of what he's returning to.”
Javier Nieves came in to replace Cheng and gave up three consecutive hits, with no outs, including an RBI single by Andrew Brown. Following the Muckdogs' first run though, he struck out the side, throwing just one ball. Alan Farina came off the disabled list for the first time since Aug. 2 and lasted 2-3 of the eighth inning, giving up two more runs on a Jonathan Edwards double.
“This was his first appearance in almost a month,” Holmberg said of Farina. “He was going to be a little nervous perhaps, a little jittery. Certainly, he's got a good arm, he's been on and off this season but it's tough to be away from something and go out there in a pressure situation.”
By the time that Farina came into the game, the Doubledays had racked up a 6-1 lead, thanks in part to Arencibia's two run double in the sixth to score Manny Rodriguez and Emaus. It was Arencibia's second double of the game and his fifth hit in two days.
“Me and Justin (Mashore, hitting coach) have been just working a lot,” Arencibia said. “I've always been a hitter and I've just been staying with it, working hard and that has gotten me results the last couple of nights. I was trying to look for a pitch up in the zone to drive in those runs (in the sixth), that's all I wanted to do.”
Other players of note offensively were Darin Mastroianni, who stretched his hitting streak to 12 games with a single in the first on his 22nd birthday, Adam Calderone, who hit an RBI single in the seventh and Carlos Vasquez, who filled in for Ben Zeskind in the leadoff spot on offense and for Mastroianni, who was the DH, at second base. He rose to the challenge at both positions, going 3-for-4 with a triple and assisting on three defensive plays flawlessly in a spot that he hasn't played since July 31.
“When Ben had a ball bounce off his foot last night, I thought I'd give him the night off. It was a combination of that and he was struggling with the bat just a little bit, he puts a lot of pressure on himself,” Holmberg said. “I just thought to myself, who has been swinging the bat pretty good? Vasquez has been that guy. Lo and behold, he stepped in and got three hits and played pretty good defense out there. He was a nice addition and he gave Mastroianni a day off. It was a combination of Zeskind getting a rest and Darin getting a rest, knowing full well that Vasquez was capable of getting a couple of hits.”
Joe Wice earned his fifth save of the year after striking out three in the final 1 1-3 innings.
With 12 games to go, Auburn (39-25) has a five-game lead over Mahoning Valley for the Pinckney Division lead. They head to Batavia (25-37) today.
D-days Today
Record: 39-25
Standings: First place, 5-game lead
Streak: 3 wins
Next: at Batavia, today, 7 p.m.
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