Royals clipped by streaking Blue Jays
Posted June 5, 2013
The Holden Blue Jays are on a run, as they marched into their favourite home away from home and staked out an early lead enroute to a 7-5 win Tuesday night in Armena to essentially put them in first place.
The Armena Royals, short-staffed with Joel Boettger spraying, Dave Andreassen injured, Clark Banack on a work conference and three others in Mexico called up some minor leaguers and enlisted in starting pitcher Adam Johnson’s brother to get nine players on the night.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 3 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 4 |
Unfortunately veteran Wes Wilson was expectedly rushing from his kid’s soccer game in Camrose and Brendan Kudrowich rolled his ankle late in the day at work – but was told to gut it out. It created a confusing first inning while the Royals started the game with eight players – Wilson running to centrefield just in time for first pitch. The Blue Jays took advantage and the Royals made a couple errors as Holden led 4-0.
Fortunately, the Johnson and Johnson battery then settled in for the rest of the night, giving up just three more runs and only one earned. The Armena offence, decent all season, was kept in check for the most part, giving up just one run in four innings pitched.
The Royals found some life as the always consistent Zenan Sherbaniuk went 3-for-4 and stole a base to score two runs. Adam Johnson helped his cause with a similar night.
It was Holden’s fifth straight win in Armena dating back to 2010. They are now 5-0 against the Royals in Armena and 9-2 in the overall series.
The tough stretch continues for the Royals as they yet again meet with another front-running team for the third straight game – the Leduc Milleteers, who look poised to revenge their 7-4 loss a week earlier.
The Royals are expected to have a thin lineup again with lefty Dean Prpick, veteran Jason Buzzell and again rookie David Ritz available to throw.
