Blue Crabs Get One Back

The last time the Blue Crabs faced Blue Fish pitcher Esteban Yan he dealt them their first and only shut out of the season. However the Blue Crabs were able to pull the win out this time with on a John Ram Stella homerun.

After 5 innings of scoreless ball third baseman Chuck Jeroloman would get on base and move to second on a Mike Just single to left. Both Chuck and Mike would come in to score on the John Ramistella homerun. In the next inning Eric Crozier would be walked and then get out on a fielder’s choice hit into by Jeremy Owens. Owens would score following a James Shanks single and a ground out by catcher Lance Burkhart. Our fifth and final run would come on a James Shanks sacrifice fly that scored Travis Garcia after he singled and advanced to third on an Eric Crozier double.

Starter Joe Gannon would pitch 6.1 innings for the win, scattering 10 hits, and giving up 3 runs all earned with 2 walks and 1 strike out. All three of the runs were scored in the bottom of the seventh off of a Ryan Radmanvich double. After giving up another hit following the double, Joe would be taken out of the game and Mike James would come in to pitch 2/3rds of the inning closing out the 7th allowing no hits or runs and striking out no one. In the 8th would be Matt Schweitzer who walked two batters and got two out, he allowed no runs and no hits from the 4 batters he faced. The duty of closing out the game and getting the last 4 outs of the game would be given to righty Matt Hensley. He would get the four batters he face out in order on two ground outs and two fly outs. Hensley who spent time in the Majors with the Anaheim Angles in 2004 pitched in 16 games, all relief finishing 13 of those games so closing out games is nothing new to the right-hander. In his minor league career he has 11 games finished, with 7 saves. He also has 82 games started though most of his starts from 2000-2003.

In Other Blue Crabs News: With the win the Blue Crabs remain in first place though Long Island too keeps winning, the standings have the Blue Crabs ahead 3 games on Long Island, 6 games on Camden and 8.5 games ahead of Bridgeport. The Crabs come home tomorrow to start a 4 game series against Camden and then go on the road for a 3 game set against Somerset before the All Star Break. This is the first time the Riversharks come to play us at home this season, we are currently 3-3 against them on the year. Hopefully we will be able to pull out a series win and hopefully the Long Island Ducks hot streak will cool down so we can gain a higher lead over them. With only 21 games left in the first half every win is a big one. Remember to vote for your favorite players to make it to the All Star game as voting ends Tuesday June 16th. Once the final roster is announced I will post it here for my readers.