April 12th, 2018
London 9 West Virginia 3 This was very much a game of miscues as the opening pitchers shared 11 walks, Berry got called for catcher interference and the Alleghenies chalked up three errors on terrible throws. In between great defence by London particularly by Tuo-zhou Yang kept all but one of Gabriel Alvarez’s six walks away from the plate and Long waited to his fourth AB to hit safely for the 14th game. The Underground scrambled in a run in the first but the real damage was the seven runs plated between the 6th & 8th innings
London MOM : Tuo-zhou Yang – walked twice, scored twice. Added a hit and twice robbed WV with outstanding defence
London 9 West Virginia 1 Once more London went station to station to get on the board in the first and although the Alleghenies tied it in the second it was Nii’s to win after three. The visitors had already plated one when Ramsey stepped up in the third, he added a two-run homer and the Underground led 4-1. Hiroyuki was back to his efficient best, went the distance with five hits, four K’s and just one run surrendered. London rubbed West Virginia’s nose in it in the eighth, Ramsey added his second two-run bomb before Wilson Berry picked up his first London RBI triple and crossed the plate a batter later. A three game sweep of the Alleghenies is nice but outscoring them 26-7 is nicer.
London MOM : Leonard Ramsey – 3 for 4 with two 2-run homers, five RBI and a walk
London 3 Kentucky 1 After walking the first batter, Tuo-zhou Yang, that Larry Schultz faced the Thoroughbreds couldn’t turn a double play and that cost them the game. Two batters later Leonard Ramsey strode to the plate and deposited his third consecutive 2-run bomb into the bleachers to effectively win the game. Schultz and Leonard Carver duelled it out allowing very few hits and striking out nine each over the first seven innings but it was 3-1 to London when Schultz departed. Mora came on in the ninth in his first save situation of 2018 and calmly sat the side down 1-2-3 for his 222nd PEBA save.
London MOM : Leonard Carver – hit two batters but only allowed two hits & one run over 7.2 IP with nine K’s
Luis Mora, in his 12th year with the Underground, now has 223 PEBA saves
London 5 Kentucky 2 On of the most memorable things about this game is Thoroughbred’s starter Rafael Rodriguez setting the IL regular season record for walks after he walked ten batters. The home side had lost this once again in the first innings when Chris Long, hitting safely for the 17th straight game, and Scott Morris both drove in runs. The only thing that stopped London being over the hill & far away was their propensity to hit into double plays, Berry being guilty twice, causing them to strand 13 runners. Ramsey left in pain after being hit by Floyd Davis in the sixth and the home side actually out-hit London 12-8 but failed to get any runners home till the last two innings. Chad Fountain got his first outing of 2018 in relief of Rosa’s effort. He loaded the bases with two out in his second innings of work leaving Mora to stroll out and strike out the final batter for an easy save.
London MOM : Miguel Rosa – gave up 10 hits in 7 IP but struck out 7 and only allowed one run.
London 16 Kentucky 0 Tuo-zhou Yang won the third game in the row for London in the first innings. This time he launched the second pitch of the game over the fences and that was enough for Luján. He struck out double digit batters for the second time in two 2018 outings while it was a thoroughly miserable day for the Thoroughbred pitchers. They walked nine batters including three with the bases loaded in the fifth which together with a balk led to an eight –run inning. Chris long struck out twice, walked three times and scored three times as his hitting streak looked in doubt but he came through in the top of the ninth when his double upped his streak to 18 and drove in the final two runs.
London MOM : Wilson Berry – 4 for 5 with a walk, scored three times and drove-in four
Gloucester 4 London 5 (F/18) In one of London’s longest ever games the fans got value for money as Bailey Rohr sent them home with a walk-off single and his first RBI of 2018 in the bottom of the 18th innings. George Arias had hit a 3-run homer off London starter, Gabriel Alvarez, in the top of the first but somehow despite walking seven it was still only 3-0 when he left in the fifth. Jesús Costa did his bit for the Fishermen striking out 10 but they couldn’t add to their run total before Dave York, on his first appearance of 2018, tripled and scored on Dennis Carter’s single in the fifth. Next batter Felipe Garza’s 2-run shot tied the game at three. Chris Long was still hitless when he led off the bottom of the ninth but after three K’s he could only produce a ground-out. Gloucester thought they had it won in the 13th when John Lee homered off Manny Vélez but Decheng Wen drove in Garza to tie the game in the bottom half of the innings. The procession of pitchers continued, London sent all seven of the ‘pen to the mound while Gloucester sent five. Carlos Guerera tied the IL regular season extra game record for hits with five, Chris Long came to the plate eight times and came away with just a walk to snap his 18 game hit streak while Fishermen’s lead-off man Chris Holmes went 0 for 10. Finally in the bottom of the 16th with the bases loaded and one out Rohr just sneaked the ball past Reynaldo Estrada at second to seal London’s eighth consecutive win.
London MOM: Felipe Garza – 4 for 7 with a home run and a double. He scored twice and drove-in two.
News & Notes: Leonard Ramsey’s x-rays showed he had suffered a fractured foot after being hit by Floyd Davis and he will be out till early May. The move of Ramsey to the D/L started a chain of promotions throughout the organisation and brought Joe Buchanan back for his third crack at the PEBA. He was once ahead of Ramsey in the organisation’s hopes but has so far been unable to hit with any consistency, as he approaches 30 this could be one of his last chances to entice another PEBA team to perhaps give him a chance of a full-time job.
Florida might lead the Imperial League with a .743 defensive efficiency but the Pan-Atlantic division is where all the hot defence is with London’s .703 mark only being good enough for fifth in the division. The IL pitching staffs have certainly started wearing the batters down with Charleston striking out 100 batters in 11 games, London 99 in 10, Kentucky 94 in 10 and Connecticut 91 in nine. Florida is going long ball with 13 long balls in their meagre total of 27 runs but London lead the IL with 14 homers and 68 runs scored in 10 games, 14 more runs than second placed Connecticut.
Hurley and Long, first-week player of the week trophy winners
There was a couple of trophies for the franchise in the opening week, last year’s IL batting champ, Chris Long, started with a hot bat as was rewarded with the IL player of the week award for hitting .500 in the first week with two homers and six RBI while London’s top prospect, Dave Hurly, picked up the Triple-A Appalachian Mountain League player of the week award for opening the season hitting .480 with one homer & seven RBI.
Worcester opened their season in Triple-A with a winning 6-5 record. Lyndon Hodges who impressed in his September call-up to London hit an impressive .457/.500/.739 with three homers & 14 RBI but at 28 and his progress blocked by Chris Long time is running out for him. Ralph Wood, who at 24 has already got 562 minor league games at all levels under his belt and 114 PEBA appearances in 2016, is working towards returning to Europe with a 2018 slash line of .326/.423/.512 with two homers & 13 RBI.