1.2 A different excitement

The Ballers took their second game against the Range Riders, again by a single run (3 - 2), but the similarities of the two games end there. In contrast to the rapid-fire scoring of the first game, this one was about pitching and defense: through seven innings, the teams combined for a single run. The corresponding tally in the first game? Ten runs. Same teams, one night removed, and you get a very different kind of tension and excitement. That’s baseball for you.

The Range Riders’ starting pitcher, Jonathan Pintaro, was dominant, scattering four hits and one walk across his seven innings of work. He also racked up 10 strikeouts, but such was his velocity and command that it seemed like even more. His presence on the mound felt big league. But as soon as he left, the Ballers pounced on his replacements, scoring two runs in the eighth and adding another in the ninth.

That winning run in the ninth happened as a result of two errant pickoff throws to first base, both errors going to the pitcher. It was hard to tell from the broadcast, but it seemed like the first baseman might have been able to get a glove on one of them, though it would’ve been quite a play.

I mention that because the Oakland Ballers first baseman, Noah Martinez, made several spectacular plays, stretching full out and grabbing throws that might otherwise have gone astray or not arrived in time. That’s the kind of thing that doesn’t show up in the box score, or even in the more advanced analytics, but was arguably the difference in the game: Martinez made some great grabs at first, while his counterpart on the Range Riders did not.

P.S. In the post for the first game, I used Austin Davis going 5 for 6 as an example of how we should enjoy a good game in the moment, for its own sake, because who knows how the next one will go. Well, tonight Davis was 0 for 3, though he did draw a walk.