Deja Vu: Expos Fail to Solve Vancouver Community's Starter Twice, Drop Home and Home 3-1, 2-0; Drop Below Provincial Qualification Line With 5 Games Remaining

With a battle between two teams with strong pitching there was no surprise that this ball game ended in a brisk 1 hour 45 minutes. The Expos just could not solve Community's starter (Saul) who spotted his fastball well and just could not execute the offense with runners on to scratch across more runs than the other guys. It was yet another disappointing result for a pitching staff that threw so well, Community over Minor 3-1.

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All eyes were on this game as two teams right in the middle of the pack squared off, even though Minor had a double header the day before they had tons of pitching left and opted to start to crafty Inomata against Community's ace, Saul. Inomata matched Saul pitch for pitch for two innings, the Expos got the first two baserunners of the game off singles up the middle courtesy of Yamamoto and Suarez but Saul worked around seperate singles to close out the first two innings.

In the top of third, Saul looked shaky as he walked his counter-part Inomata who then advanced to second on a pass ball; Horino would follow that up with a walk himself putting runners on first and second with none out. A well-executed double steal had Minor poised to strike first but all quickly became moot as Saul would get Howse to strike out, Betonio failed to execute a team at-bat and Yamamoto couldn't deliver a hit with 2 outs, this was the Expos best chance to score against Saul and it would end up burning them. Community's Pegg hit a hanging breaking-ball to the gap to lead-off the third inning, a steal of third had Community 80" away from plating the first run of the game. That's when the umpires called a balk on Inomata because the lively righthander who was coming off the flu just a couple days ago "coughed when he was in his set". Pegg was awarded home, Minor 0 Community 1.

Inomata left the game in the 4th inning due to sickness, a brave Ellis came in cold and got Black to fly out to RF to end the 4th. The bottom of the 5th saw Community tack on an insurance marker as Saul in an 0-2 count drove a pitch down the can to the gap for a lead-off double, he then later scored on an error by the Vancouver second baseman. Saul continued to retire Expo hitter after hitter until the top of the 6th where Horino with 2 strikes on him hit the Saul fastball to RF to get things started. Horino would swipe second with 1 out but be stranded on third after Vancouver failed to move him over or get him in productively.

The bottom of the 6th saw Community again have the lead-off batter reach on a walk courtesy of Domingo, Domingo was promptly pulled for Horino and Horino would do his part but some miscommunication on the infield let the lead-off batter score from 2nd on a groundout and overthrow, Minor 0 Community 3. Down to their last 3 outs, Saul got an undisciplined Baybay to strike out on pitches nowhere near the zone, S. Black came in to close as Saul reached his pitch count; Hutchings promptly doubled to deep centre and was immediately driven in by a Suarez single to RF, but S. Black would get the next two batters to strike out and groundout respectively. 

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More or less the same story in this one, tight ball game where pitching and defence excels for both clubs and baserunners coming at a luxury. Silent bats ... it's something Vancouver has seen way too often these days from their lineup, this time only 2/9 players recording hits (Inomata and Betonio with multi-hit games) and only a third of the Vancouver lineup managing to reach base. The Expos looked poised to strike against Community's starter, Hunter in the 1st but Hutchings hit into a inning-killing double play which was ultimately Vancouver's best chance at scoring a run and taking the lead. However, Hutchings was once again dominant on the mound as he only allowed 2 hits, one being an RBI single to Crossfield; he also allowed 2 runs (only 1 earned) with 5 Ks to complete an outing which deserved a "W". Community's runs came off 2 errors by the Vancouver catcher, errant throws into CF and LF inevitably cost Vancouver both runs. Hutchings deserved a better fate but the offence needs to get going to start winning ball games, doesn't get any easier with Richmond visiting Nanaimo Park on Thursday.