Saltdogs Fail Key Test, Get Swept by Wichita
After splitting a series in Lincoln against the St. Paul Saints, Lincoln traveled to Wichita for a short road trip, and a chance to make some noise in the American Association North.
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Unfortunately for the Saltdogs, the road trip couldn’t have gone worse, as the Wing nuts swept Lincoln out of town, with only one game really in doubt.
Friday’s contest saw former MVP Pichi Balet return to the league, after a one year hiatus from baseball, Balet returned to left field for Lincoln. Pichi performed about as well as you’d expect someone coming off a season away from the game, going 0-4 with a strike out.
The rest of the Saltdogs didn’t fare much better against Gabriel Medina, who surrendered two runs in the first, and then shut Lincoln down after his team took the lead back in the bottom of the frame.
Vince Davis continued to put together a lost season, as he fell to 0-3 and saw his ERA rise to 6.66 thanks to allowing eight hits, and six runs over five and one third innings. The 6-2 loss was simply setting the stage for the disaster that was Saturday’s game.
Lincoln’s pitching staff has been much maligned for most of the season, but until Saturday, there was one thing they hadn’t accomplished, and now they can cross off allowing 15 or more runs off their list of things they never should have done. Brian Campbell made his fifth start of the season, hoping to finally get a decision. I’m sure he would have been okay getting another no decision instead of being the pitcher of record for the Saltdogs’ 16-3 beat down.
Campbell lasted just three and a third innings, allowing seven hits, five walks, and nine earned runs, in getting his first loss of the year, and raising his ERA to 7.77, and making the chances of repeating last season’s success a long shot.
Campbell wasn’t the only Saltdog pitcher who struggled. Jim Paduch and Nolan Chestnut were both roughed up for a combined six runs over one inning, and even Carlos Guevara; who had been untouchable so far this season, was tagged for two hits and one run (a solo home run) in his one inning of work.
Pichi Balet got his first hits in his return to the Saltdogs, managing two singles, and the new starting left fielder looked like he could eventually be a catalyst for a team desperate for veteran leadership.
Sunday saw the Saltdogs take a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth, thanks to yet another stellar outing by Jonathan Figueroa. Beyond Jarrett Gardner, Figueroa has been Lincoln’s most consistent starting pitcher, having now gone 17 straight innings without allowing a run.
In a season where the Saltdogs have run into many obstacles, is it any wonder that Mother Nature herself seems to be against the team? Figueroa pitched six shutout innings, but had to leave after the game waited through an hour and a half, and Daryl Areola relieved him.
Areola was effective for the first inning, but eventually could not hold the slim lead, a walk and an RBI double tied the game, and former major leaguer Dustan Mohr’s RBI single scored the eventual winning run. Wichita tallied three insurance runs, before the heavens opened again, and the game was called.
The loss was Lincoln’s third straight, and sixth in their last eight contests. The Saltdogs will again hope that a return home can turn their season around, as they now sit at the bottom of the division, and seven and a half games behind Wichita.
