Expos "Strikeout" in Both Games of DH to Abbotsford

It was a sad day for the Expos as they battled and dropped both games against the perennial powerhouse, Abbotsford Angels. The Angels, who this year are highly regarded as the top pitching and defence team lived up to the hype as Abbotsford won two tight ballgames 4-1 and 5-2. Here's your daily recap:

Game 1 - Abbotsford 4 EXPOS 1

The captain of the Expos, Hutchings got the ball in this one as he looked to right the ship after an ugly loss against Richmond on Wednesday. Hutch was as good as we've seen him all year; that being said the first inning wasn't the prettiest, a triple to the #2 batter Boulanger (incorrect pitch relay by the catcher from the coach), a single + E7 to #3 batter Peters and and single to #5 batter Snow (poor outfield positioning) led to Abbotsford first two runs of the ball game, it was tough luck for Hutchings but he didn't let the team's mental/physical mistakes faze him. Hutchings would go 6 1/3 IP giving up 2 runs, picking off 2 baserunners, and starting 2 double plays (1-5 and 1-4-3); the kid was dominant and kept the 'Bos in the game the entire 6+ innings. In the 7th, Dick who was 0-2 coming into his 4th at bat, was down 1-2 in the count with runners at 1st and 2nd; however Horino threw a breaking ball to the left-handed hitter that leaked over the heart of the plate, Dick took full advantage of the mistake pulling it just fair just down the right field foul line as it kicked up chalk the Expos could only watch their deficit jump from 1 to 3. The Expos scratched across a run in the 2nd thanks to an RBI single by Howse; in the 5th inning of a 2-1 run game Howse doubled to left and eventually tagged to 3rd on a flyball to CF that made it 2 outs in the inning, but the umpire ruled that Howse left early on the tag to 3 that clearly wasn't even remotely close but he called Howse out blindly, instead of 2 outs and the tying run at 3rd base with the leadoff hitter up, the blind appeal call ended the inning and the threat. So that's all she wrote, with 9 strikeouts from Vancouver batters and less than 8 quality at bats, it's pretty difficult to win a ball game that way. 

Game 2 - EXPOS 2 Abbotsford 5

Game 2 saw Abbotsford top left handed pitcher, Sexton against Vancouver's lefty Horino. Horino battled control issues and the command for his pitches just wasn't there again as Abbotsford sent nine to the plate in the bottom half of the 1st inning and plated 4 to go up 4. Two errors in that 1st inning by the usually sound middle infield allowed Abbotsford to score 3 of those 4 runs unearned on Horino; in an event to wake up his team, manager/head coach of the Expos, Yam pulled Horino and went to pitch by committee for the rest of the game. The move to pull Horino after the 1st inning showed no spark in the Vancouver offense as they were shut down the next couple innings by Sexton who seemed to overpower Vancouver batters in this one. Ellis and Howse came in to relieve Horino and were lights out as Abbotsford batters went a combined 1-12 (.083) off the two relievers. Blake, Abbotsford's manager accused Howse of plunking Peters intentionally, thinking it was in response to Sexton hitting Hutchings and Boulanger hitting a couple Vancouver batters, but definitely no intent whatsoever as Howse is a pitcher who lives off the inside parts of the plate. Peters was a combined 3-4 with a BB and HBP, just a home run shy of the cycle, Vancouver pitchers let him extend his hands all day and were unable to jam him, Howse made a good attempt at it...just unfortunately drilled him. The Expos scratched across a run in the 4th and 5th inning off a wild pitch and a 1st and 3rd offensive play respectively; the top of the 7th had the Expos seriously threatening with 1 out and tying run at the plate but a poor at bat which led to a strikeout and weak groundout to 2B spelled the end of a sad day for a young Vancouver Minor Expos squad who are still trying to find their offense by the time you read this (18 Ks in two games!).

Hopefully, they find the offense against Delta tomorrow as the Expos look to salvage a split this weeekend, but it won't come easy against a tough Delta ball club.