The Missoula Osprey didn't need this.
Right in the middle of their home series with streaking Billings, while the Mustangs were pounding out a 10-7 Pioneer League victory at Play Ball Park on Tuesday night, O's ace Greg Smith came up gimpy.
Smith, a southpaw who padded his league-leading lead with seven strikeouts, has been nursing a sore ankle his last four starts, all of them stellar. Stottlemyre saw a noticeable dropoff after Smith covered first on a grounder to first baseman Bryan Byrne to lead off the third inning.
The next batter for Billings, Brandon Roberts, tripled to right-center. J.D. Reininger doubled him in with a shot to the left field corner. After Mayker Sandoval struck out, Jordan Belcher hit a pop fly home run to right to put the Ponies up 3-1.
"He was up a ton with his fastball," Stottlemyre said.
Billings scored a fourth run off Smith in the fourth inning after J.D. Roberts walked and Jamie Langham doubled him in. Missoula's Mike DeCarlo tightened it up again in the bottom of the frame with a two-run homer off Billings lefty David Wilson, but Stottlemyre and Osprey manager Hector De La Cruz would take no chances trying to get five innings out of Smith.
"I don't want to send him out there when it's a physical thing, you know?" Stottlemyre said.
Smith, the Arizona Diamondbacks' sixth-round draft pick out of Louisiana State, dropped to 3-3.
Two of Missoula's top hitters, outfielder Greg Thomson (thigh injury) and first baseman/outfielder Osvaldo Diaz (ankle), are due back soon, and second baseman JoJo Batten is out as well.
Stottlemyre's concern is compounded by Ramon Sanchez's hand injury. Sanchez, the only pitcher besides Smith who stayed in the initial starting rotation, hasn't pitched since July 21 with a strained ligament in the middle finger of his pitching hand and a sore tendon in the same wrist.
"He'll throw a side on Thursday, but he's going to miss a couple more starts at least," said Stottlemyre.
None of it comes as cheery news for the O's after dropping to 0-3 in the second half. Billings and Helena both have 3-0 starts, and manager Rick Burleson's Mustangs have won seven of their last eight.
Six of the Mustangs' eight hits Tuesday went for extra bases. Belcher, a third-year pro from Augusta, Ga., added a double in the seventh to his third home run of the season.
Billings scored thre runs with only one hit in the sixth inning to take a 7-3 lead. Smith's successor on the mound, Vince Bongiovanni, walked three batters and hit another after pitching a 1-2-3 fifth. Reininger cleaned up the mess with a two-run single off Cody Evans, who surrendered three runs in a stint of 1 1-3 innings.
Evans compounded his problem in the seventh when he fielded a ball off the bat of J.D. Roberts with runners on first and second and threw the ball into the Mustang bullpen down right field. Two run scored and Roberts sprinted all the way to third on the play.
Much as they did the night before in a 13-5 loss, the O's scratched back late. Will Crouch doubled to lead off the eighth and Bryan Byrne singled him in. DeCarlo knocked in his third run of the night with a sacrifice fly to score Byrne.
Missoula scored twice more in the ninth when Pedro Ciriaco bunted for a base hit and Travis Tully singled. Each scored on separate groundouts by Rusty Ryal and Will Crouch.
Crouch's double in the eighth was an interesting sidelight. It came against former University of Texas teammate Sam Lecure, Billings' second pitcher. Lecure was academically ineligible this season and wasn't around for the Longhorns' national championship. But he's a big-time prospect, Crouch said.
"He was going to be our No. 1 pitcher," said Crouch. "He's probably one of the best pitchers that I've faced in this league because of his ability to show you different stuff every at-bat. He's got three or four really good pitches, and you definitely have to change your approach every time."
Lecure got Crouch to pop out in the bottom of the fifth with a slider after two hard pitches in.
"The second time he threw a fastball away and then a slider, and I was ready for the slider and was able to put a pretty good swing on it," said Crouch, who singled off Lecure in Billings earlier in the season.
"Two-for-three against him. I'll definitely remind him about that," Crouch said with a chuckle.
Notes from the nest:
Missoula had a couple of defensive highlights, including a play made by Tully in right field in the fifth. He tracked down a long foul ball by Mayker Sandoval and caught it while crashing into the gate in the right-field corner. Š Billings lost two players Tuesday. Right-hander Aaron Garrison (4-1, 3.41 ERA) was promoted to Dayton of the Class A Midwest League. Third catcher Mark Rodriguez was sent to Sarasota, the Cincinnati Reds' affiliate in the rookie Gulf Coast League. Š
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)