Cats stay hot, sweep pair
Phipps’ two-run double powers Tri-city to win in Game 2 over Quebec
A crowd that packed Joseph L. Bruno Stadium to watch a postgame Fourth of July fireworks show on Sunday was treated before that to an explosion by Valleycats manager Pete Incaviglia and a late-game outburst by a Tri-city team has turned its season around in a matter of two weeks.
Denis Phipps hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the sixth inning to lift the Valleycats to a 3-1 victory that completed a doubleheader sweep of Equipe Quebec before 5,134 fans, the franchise’s first sellout since the pre-pandemic days of 2019.
“This is awesome, man,” said Incaviglia, who was ejected after a colorful display in the second inning. “This is what baseball’s all about, man. It was a great game, it was a well-played game. We came back and scored three runs in front of 5,000 people. You can’t ask for a better scenario.”
The Valleycats opened to full capacity of 4,500 chairback seats — plus standing room only — on Friday.
Tri-city won the first game 5-1 in a completion of a game that was suspended by rain on Saturday night. Rookie Austin Cline pitched six innings to earn his first professional victory. Reliever Trey Cochran- Gill closed both ends of the doubleheader.
The Valleycats (14-18) extended their winning streak to a season-high five games and have
won 10 of 12 since starting 4-16.. Tri-city is within two games of the Atlantic Division-leading New York Boulders, who come to Troy for a four-game series starting on Tuesday.
“We’re playing, like, good baseball right now,” Phipps said. “Good chemistry. There’s no ego here. Everybody contributes every day … You just get hot at the right time.”
In the nightcap, Phipps ripped a 3-2 fastball off Equipe Quebec reliever Nick Horvath over the head of leftfielder L.P. Pelletier to score Nelson Molina and Juan Silverio for a 2-1 lead. Phipps got an ovation when he came out for a pinch runner.
“What can I say, he gave me a good pitch to hit,” Phipps said. “I got good hitters behind me, so now I’m going to get more of an opportunity to hit.”
Brad Zunica was in the on-deck circle and Willy Garcia was behind him — two of Incaviglia’s key additions in recent weeks who have boosted Tricity’s offense.
A play involving Garcia was what drove Incaviglia ballistic in the second inning. Umpire James Grillo called Garcia out at first on a grounder to third — even though a photo showed Garcia to be safe.
Incaviglia ran out to argue and was ejected by Grillo. Incaviglia then tore the first-base bag out of the dirt and tossed it. Upon returning to the dugout, Incaviglia threw a bag of balls on to the field.
He said his temper boiled over when Grillo wouldn’t admit he blew the call.
“My guy runs hard and plays the game the right way,” Incaviglia said. “He should be rewarded for running hard. If he wasn’t running hard, I would have never said a thing. But he was busting hit butt down there and it’s an important game. Sometimes these guys when they umpire games, they don’t realize how important every game (is). We’re playing well. Every game’s important to us right now because we got off to such a hard start.
But it’s a tribute to them, man. We really play the game the right way. They compete and never give up. I’m proud to be their manager.”
Incaviglia wasn’t sure whether he’ll face disciplinary action from the Frontier League.
The first game resumed in the second inning with Cline on the mound and the Valleycats holding a 2-0 lead - thanks to Zunica’s two-run homer. He took over from Josh Hiatt, who pitched the first inning on Friday.
Cline, a rookie from Wright State, allowed an RBI double in the third inning of Game 1 but otherwise stifled Equipe Quebec with seven strikeouts and four hits allowed.