Homers doom ’Topes at home
Albuquerque shifts focus to Mariachis
Isotopes Park wasn’t big enough for Albuquerque pitchers on Monday night.
And 90 feet was too far for Albuquerque hitters.
The visiting Sacramento River Cats launched four home runs — three into the bushes well beyond the 400-foot center field wall — and opened a four-game series against the Albuquerque Isotopes with a 9-4 win in front of an announced crowd of 7,563.
“He’s a sinker ball, slider guy,” Isotopes manager Glenallen Hill said of Monday’s starter, righty David Holman, who gave up three of the four Sacramento long balls. “He left the ball up a little bit. Even though his pitch count wasn’t really that high — seventy-something through six — he was up in the zone and they were coming back through the order (so he was pulled).”
Holman, who had given up three homers in a game only one other time (in 2014 when playing for the High-A High Desert Mavericks in Adelanto, Calif.) was mostly good on Monday. Mostly. He induced groundouts for seven of the first nine Sacramento outs. But in the fifth inning, he seemed more consumed by a baserunner on second and let another pitch sail high in the strike zone, leading to third baseman Ryder Jones hitting a 2-run homer to center field to tie the game at 4-4.
“The mind can’t do two things at once,” Hill said. “And his attention was divided and the priority should be on the guy hitting, who is a power threat.”
The four homers allowed by the ’Topes gives them 115 allowed on the season, the second most in the Pacific Coast League. But the pitching wasn’t what seemed to bother Hill as much as missing on a few opportunities to score.
Albuquerque led 2-0 off a Josh Fuentes homer in the first and then 4-2 in the fourth off a twoRBI double by Daniel Castro.
But in the fifth inning of a tied game (4-4), leadoff hitter Raimel Tapia was on third and Garret
Hampson on second with no outs and the meat of the ’Topes lineup due up — Mike Tauchman, Fuentes and Jordan Patterson.
Tauchman popped out to second base, Fuentes flied out to shallow center field and Patterson struck out swinging, leaving Tapia stranded at third.
“Offensively, I think we let one situation get away from us that we’ve been really good at and that’s scoring a runner from third base with less than two outs,” Hill said. “We had the right guys up there. In that situation, there’s a real comfortable feeling knowing those guys are at the plate. And they’ve got the job more times than not. That was the turning point.”
If momentum didn’t fully shift there, first baseman Ryan McMahon holding up at third base in the sixth inning on a Ryan Cardullo double when it appeared he had a chance to score seemed to do the trick. Ttwo batters later, McMahon was also stranded at third when Hampson popped out.
McMahon was pulled the next inning, though Hill said it was only double-switch defensive substitution, not related to the base running.
Chris Shaw hit a three-run homer in the seventh for a 7-4 River Cats lead. The visitors scored two more in the ninth when a line drive ricocheted off reliever Craig Schlitter, the only two Sacramento runs on the night that weren’t scored via homers.
For the second of four games this season, the ‘Topes will take on the alternate identity of Mariachis de Nueve Mexico tonight. Between the large crowd expected for that promotion (there are also Taco Tuesday sales, a free tote giveaway and mariachi bands playing around the stadium), Sacramento will also be starting San Francisco Giants former All-Star Jeff Samardzija on a rehab assignment.
“The fans here have supported our team all year,” Hill said. “We’ve experienced big crowds quite often. It’s definitely a home field advantage. It’s been amazing.”