By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian
Samuel Deduno left only one question unanswered Tuesday night: What's this guy doing in the Pioneer League?
It spoiled the start of Missoula's do-or-die home stand that lasts six more games, three against Casper but no more against Deduno. That's the good news.
The bad news is Pioneer League North leader Great Falls also won, 15-4 in Provo. The Osprey, 10-16 in the second half, are six games behind the White Sox with 12 to play.
Casper, blessed with a handful of the best major league prospects in the league, is 11-14, mainly because of an injury-riddled pitching staff. But the Rockies moved to within 2fi games of Idaho Falls, the team they're chasing in order to earn a wild-card spot in the playoffs.
Idaho Falls was rained out in Helena on Tuesday. The Chukars come to Missoula for three games later this week.
Tuesday's game in Missoula was played on the coolest night of the season, though rain that threatened earlier in the day never arrived. It also drew the smallest crowd yet to Play Ball Park - 1,408.
Deduno's strikeout credentials were well-established before he came to town. He had 90 K's in less than 60 innings and just last week was voted Pioneer League pitcher of the year.
The 6-foot-1 Dominican, from the baseball hotbed of San Pedro de Macoris, hit the first batter he faced Tuesday. Kevin Williams went on to steal second and third for Missoula, and scored on a wild pitch.
Once Deduno got that out of his system, he was almost untouchable. The O's didn't get a hit off him until Javier Brito singled to lead off the fifth inning. Williams had the only other hit against Deduno, another single to start the sixth. Neither Osprey advanced past second.
Deduno, throwing heat but never in the same place twice in a row, mowed down eight straight batters starting with one out in the second inning. That tied a Pioneer League record for consecutive strikeouts in a game, which was first set in 1991 by Helena's Tyrone Hill and again in 1996 by Ogden's Paul Stewart.
"He was overpowering," Missoula manager Jim Presley said. "That's a big league arm right there."
The 13 strikeouts were most by one pitcher against the Osprey in the franchise's six-year history.
He whiffed Derek Bruce three times, and three others twice. Brito was the only Osprey hitter who wasn't called out on strikes.
"He threw a lot of strikes," said Missoula right fielder Travis Gulick. "The off-speed stuff, he was real consistent throwing strikes with that. He had a hard fastball, and he had great control today."
Deduno left the game after striking out Mercado for the first out of the seventh. Casper manager P.J. Carey and trainer Austin O'Shea jogged immediately to the mound and Carey called for a reliever. They'd seen signs that an ankle that Deduno turned in Provo 10 days ago was tightening up and removed him as a precaution.
Missoula starter Ben Krantz slipped in and out of trouble, walking six Rockies in his five-inning stint. He stranded three on base in the first inning, forcing a pop-up from Chris Nelson with two outs.
Still trailing 1-0, Casper loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth, and Krantz almost escaped that mess too. He knocked down a liner off the bat of Scott Dragicevich, picked it up and threw home. Catcher Frank Curreri then found plenty of time to fire to third to nail Nelson, who waited to see if Krantz would catch the liner.
Then came the fatal blow. Jason Van Kooten, whose sacrifice fly ended a 12-inning marathon against the Osprey in Casper on Saturday, hit a slow hopper down the third-base line. Missoula's Ricardo Sosa charged it but overthrew Brito at first. Three runs scored on the error and the Rockies led 3-1.
Nelson, Colorado's first-round draft pick in June, lashed a two-run homer off Krantz in the fifth inning, his fourth.
Missoula's three relievers - Ramon Sanchez, Kosuke Yonezawa and Garrett Bauer - no-hit the Rockies for the final four innings. The only Casper base runner in that time reached on a walk.
The Osprey scored twice in the eighth off Deduno's replacement, Matt Daley. Gulick, Curreri, Williams and Bruce all had singles in the inning. Juan Olivares drove in Gulick from third on a groundout, then scored the final run on an errant throw after Williams' single.
Notes from the nest:
Much to the disappointment of Presley and Osprey pitching coach Wellington Cepeda, Missoula lost one of its best relievers Tuesday when Esmerling Vasquez was promoted to Yakima of the Northwest League. Vasquez had a stint as the O's closer and left town with five saves, a 3-2 record, and a 3.52 earned run average in 19 games. Š The Osprey match lefty Vince Davis (2-2) against Casper right-hander Stephen Edsell on Wednesday night. Edsell (1-1) arrived in Casper recently from Tri-Cities of the Northwest League to help the Rockies out of their pitching jam. ... Osprey trainer Dave Philbrick said Richard Mercado has inflammation in his shoulder. The catcher from the University of Arizona has played only as a designated hitter or pinch hitter the past seven games. Philbrick added that outfielder Josh Buhagiar is ready to play after missing more than two weeks with a hip flexor. Š Curreri, who signed after leading his team to the Cape Cod League title on Aug. 14, played his first game in Missoula. He went 1-for-3.
Rockies 5, Osprey 3
CASPER MISSOULA
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Van Kooten 2b 5 0 1 1 Williams cf 3 1 2 0
Hahn 3b 3 0 0 0 Bruce 3b 4 0 1 0
Smith rf 5 0 1 0 Downing 2b 4 0 0 0
J. Nelson lf 4 1 1 0 Centeno lf 2 0 0 0
Davies 1b 2 0 0 0 Mercado dh 4 0 0 0
C. Nelson dh 4 1 1 2 Brito 1b 4 0 1 0
Hosgood cf 3 1 1 0 Gulick rf 3 1 1 0
Dragicevich ss 3 1 0 0 Curreri c 3 0 1 0
Rodriguez c 3 1 0 0 Olivares ss 3 1 0 1
Totals 32 5 5 3 Totals 30 3 6 1
Casper 000 320 000 - 5
Missoula 100 000 020 - 3
E- Smith, Bruce. DP- Casper 1, Missoula 1. LOB-Casper 7, Missoula 3. HR-C. Nelson (4) SB-Hosgood (1), Williams 2 (7). CS-Williams.
IP H R ER BB SO
Casper
Deduno W (5-4) 6.1 2 1 1 2 13
Daley 1.1 4 2 2 0 0
Newman 0.1 0 0 0 0 1
Delgado S (7) 1 0 0 0 0 0
Missoula
Krantz L (3-4) 5.0 5 5 3 6 5
Sanchez 2.0 0 0 0 0 1
Yonezawa 1.0 0 0 0 1 1
Bauer 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
WP- Deduno. HBP-Deduno (Williams). Umpires-Matt Hensel, Jon Moynihan. T-2:37. A-1,408.
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