Surrey Indians 2 VS Newton Rockies 8 (Jul 27)

Indians falter against the Rox

The Indians were looking to finish the year strong; riding a 3 game winning streak -- they were hoping to make it four against the Rox. The Rox’s pitching has improved dramatically since last year, and they’re hitting is not that far behind.

E. Roblero took the mound for the Indians and quickly experienced control problems. After walking the lead off man, Roblero sent a pitch to the backstop advancing the runner to second. He would later score on a sac fly. Roblero tossed 4 innings giving up 7 runs on 5 hits, 5 walks and a hit batter. Of the 7 runs allowed by Roblero, 6 were unearned as the Indians committed a whopping 5 errors in just 4 innings of play. The worst came in the top of the third when 2 singles and a walk were intertwined with 3 errors. The Rox took advantage in this frame by scoring four unearned runs.

The tribe struggled offensively the whole game. The tribe only recorded 7 hits contrasted by 9 K’s. The top of the order which is usually exceptional at getting on base went a combined 1 for 18 with 6 K’s.

The tribe got on the board in the bottom of the second. With one out, Roblero managed an infield single past the pitcher. After G. Nolan reached base on an error, J. Karls singled up the middle to push the first Indian run across.

The Indians had their moments but could not cowboy-up in the clutch. In the bottom of the 3rd, there were runners on 1st and 2nd – no outs, but the tribe did not advance the runners. In the bottom of the 6th again the tribe had runners on 1st and 2nd no outs, but could only tally one more run on the score board. In fact, the tribe was very lucky to even score one more run as somehow, J. Ubeda batted out of order but the competition did not catch the error in time.

On a positive note, T. Jones seems to be back in the groove working 5 innings and allowing only 1 run on 3 hits, 6 walks; striking out 2 and plunking 2. Jone’s velocity seems to be getting better each outing, which makes him a good candidate for pitching in the playoffs.

Player of the game nominations:

Enrique Roblero 2 for 4, 1B(2), 1RS, 1K
Josh Karls 2 for 3, 1B, 2B, 1RBI
Tyler Jones 1 for 4 * 5IP, 1ER , 2K, 3H, 6BB, 2HB