CLOSE ISN’T ENOUGH
A game of inches on Sunday didn’t fall the Redbirds’ way as they dropped the third game of four to the Isotopes.
It was one of those days when an inch or two here and there could have been huge for the Memphis Redbirds.
Whether it was a hit batter in the second inning that pushed a run across for the visitors or a pair of long fly balls by Memphis hitters that just missed being home runs, the Redbirds were a little off the mark in a 5-3 loss Sunday afternoon to the Albuquerque Isotopes.
A crowd of 5,292 watched the day of close calls at AutoZone Park.
“We’ve haven’t been getting a lot of breaks, and we just need to play better overall,” Redbirds manager Ron “Pop” Warner said. “This is a good Albuquerque team that beat us three out of four. When you play good teams you have to take advantage of opportunities, and we just didn’t do that this series.”
Redbirds starter Nick Additon struggled against the bottom of the Albuquerque batting order in the second inning, loading the bases with a walk by Brian Bardern, a solid single by Damaso Espino and an infield single by pitcher Jonathan Sanchez who was attempting to give himself up on a sacrifice bunt.
Additon then hit Matt Angle to force a run home and put the Isotopes ahead, 1-0. But he retired the next two batters to escape with minimal damage.
“The pitch that hit the guy wasn’t even really that far inside,” said Additon, who fell to 5-4 with the loss. “We had been pitching him away, and he was right up on the plate. I was just trying to get back inside and it got him.”
The Isotopes increased their lead to 2-0 in the top of third when Rusty Ryal scored on a ground-rule double by Justin Sellers. Sellers increased the lead to 3-0 when he scored from third on a sacrifice fly to center by Espino.
Additon settled down from there, holding Albuquerque scoreless in the fourth and fifth innings. But the game of inches just kept working against the Redbirds’ hitters.
Chris Swauger drilled an apparent home run to right field in the second, but it was caught and hauled
back into play for an out by Isotopes right fielder Alex Castellanos. Then Brock Peterson slapped a shot to left-center field in the third that hit high off the top of the wall and bounced far enough back into play that he was forced to settle for a single.
Swauger lamented the irony of just missing on the second-inning homer and then reaching base on a bad-hop grounder in the seventh that seemed to hit a pebble or a bad spot in the infield.
“That’s just baseball,” said Swauger, who finished 1-for- 4. “It’s a tough sport, a sport for men. But if we continue to play hard and put the ball in play, good things are going to happen for us.”
The Redbirds trailed 5-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth, but they gave the crowd reason to stay until the final out.
After loading the bases with one out, Memphis drove one run home on a fielder’s choice ground ball by Greg Garcia and another on an RBI single by Peterson to pull within 5-3.
But Isotopes reliever Kelvin De La Cruz retired Jamie Romak for the final out with the Redbirds still two runs shy of forcing extra innings.
Additon worked five innings, allowing f ive hits and three runs while walking three and striking out three. His counterpart, Sanchez (1-0), pitched five shutout innings.
“Nick didn’t control counts like he usually does, and it got him in trouble a little bit,” Warner said. “He had to pitch back over the middle of the plate a lot. But overall, to just give up three runs, he battled and did a nice job.”