Cats maul Gems in wild one at RAP

The Klamath side of the scorecard of Tuesday night's Gems-'Cats game looked something like that of a little-league game. Eight wild pitches, 3 passed balls, 3 errors, 11 runs on the board. Six of those runs scoring on all those wild pitches and passed balls. Even the HarbourCats were a sure bet on this night.

It was a game played in three distinct parts. The first act saw Victoria jump all over Klamath starting pitcher Angelo Lingos, roughing him up for three runs over the first three innings. The lead was nice to have, but it felt like it was being taken a bit for granted. The 'Cats left men in scoring position, got doubled off, and you could sense the game was far from over.

The second act began with a mammoth home run hit off the bat of Gems 3B LJ Brewster in the 4th, and ended with an error induced pair of runs in the 6th to tie the game at 4. The optimism of the first 5 innings was quickly replaced around the park with sighs familiar ground and tough endings to good ball games.

Then the TSN turning point... Just as it seemed like the 'Cats had given it up, 3B John Schuknecht strode to the plate in the bottom of 6 and launched one deep over the left field wall to put Victoria back on top. The rest of the act was an uplifting sight for sore eyes. 3 more in the 7th, 3 more in the 8th, and for the first time this home stand, there was no need for a bottom of the 9th inning.

Logan Lombana: complete game win

Victoria got a solid complete game pitching effort from Logan Lombana in one of his best starts of the season. Lombana started strong, going 2 2/3 innings before giving up a hit. He recovered from the errors made behind him and righted the ship after allowing the 2 runs in the sixth to retire the last 11 batters of the game.

As reported in the series preview, Klamath is really suffering on the mound, and carried only 6 pitchers into the game. I would think with a bigger staff, Lingos would have gotten the hook much earlier than her did. The 'Cats did well to exploit this weakness and kept pounding away.

Lombana was duly awarded the Player of the Game for his outstanding night on the mound, but my pick would have been for Alex DeGoti who was dangerous all night and approached each at bat like a man with a job to do. Twice driving in runs with 2 outs, forcing an error at first with a hustle down the line, and playing a solid game at short. He finished 2-4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI.

The mood seemed upbeat and cocky on the Victoria side of the field, and they seemed to be pretty loose for a team riding a 5-game losing streak. It will be interesting to see if they can build on this solid hitting and pitching performance the rest of the series.