(7-8) Peoria Javelinas 6 vs. (4-13) Mesa Solar Sox 3
- Lucas Sims, P: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
- Andrew Thurman, P: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 3K
- Connor Lien, CF: 0-5, 4K
- Johan Camargo, 3B: 1-3, 2B, BB
Peoria got a huge win today over the Solar Sox that moved them a game short of .500 and one back of first place in the division. The Javelinas never trailed in this one after getting a run in the top of the first when Tyler Smith stole home. They added 3 in the 5th, which the Solar Sox responded to (more on that in a bit), but scored 2 more in the 6th to take a permanent 3 run lead. Perhaps the biggest news of the game was the return of former top prospect Dylan Bundy, but the star of the game was Lucas Sims. Sims had absolutely everything working, being called "dominant" by David O'Brien. Reports had him sitting between 94-98, as hard as he's likely ever thrown. That showed up on the box score as well, as he allowed one batter to reach base due to an error by the shortstop. He was flawless otherwise (well he was flawless the whole game his team just screwed up), and struck out 4 in 3 innings of work. He forced weak contact throughout the outing, including 2 infield pop ups and a couple of weak ground balls. He is improving rapidly and looks to be benefitting from his time with Javelinas pitching coach Derrin Ebert. Then there's the other side of the plate, which Andrew Thurman seems to be firmly planted on. As soon as he entered the game the Solar Sox started to hit him. He was able to get the first batter out on a line drive to the first baseman, and then alllowed a triple and a home run to give up 2 runs. He retired the next batter on strikes, but gave up another dinger to the next batter before retiring the final batter on a strikeout. Fortunately his next inning was significantly better, and he retired the the first 2 batters he faced before being lifted for another reliever after walking the final man he faced. The 3 strikeouts is a nice little stat to see, but it's a shame seeing him giving up hard contact as consistently as he has this fall.
On to another player who has had a disappointing run so far, Connor Lien went 0-5 on Monday. Not only did he go 0-5, but he struck out in his 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th at bats and grounded out weakly in his 4th. It was far from his best showing, it was actually probably his worst, and he has seemed totally overmatched in the early going. Johan Camargo had a pretty good day and in his first at bat. He was thrown out trying to score on a ground ball to the third baseman (you're better than that Johan), but was able to stay in a run down long enough to allow the batter, Smith, to get to second base. That turned out to be huge in the inning, as Smith would not have scored in the inning had he not made it to second. Camargo also laid down a sacrifice bunt that ended up being very important when the next batter hit a ground ball. Neither run likely would have scored in that 5th, so the game could have been very different without Camargo despite the mediocre stat line. He also directly contributed to a run in the next inning when he walked to force the bases loaded before the next batter walked to score a run. All in all a pretty good day for Camargo though I would have preferred it without the baserunning mistake.