66ers, Quakes, drop openers of 4-game series

Because of internet problems, 66ers and Quakes stories did not make it into Saturday’s paper. Here they are:

 

SAN BERNARDINO – As good statistically as Kendy Batista was for the
first four innings, he didn’t look like he was in much of a rhythm.
Because he had thrown 80 pitches through four innings and he’s not really a starter, he didn’t make it out for the fifth.
Then, things really unraveled for reliever Luis Vasquez, who after he retired the first two batters in the sixth with the score tied, Lake Elsinore rallied for three runs and went on to rout the 66ers 10-4 at Arrowhead Credit Union Park on Friday night.
The Sixers (8-14) lost their third straight game, while the Storm (13-9) won their fourth straight and improved their road record to 9-2.
With the score tied 1-1 in the sixth, Batista got the first two outs and had No. 8 hitter Robert Perry down 0-2 before walking him.
Luis Martinez then doubled to right to score Perry with the tie-breaker and Batista hit Brad Chalk with a pitch, ending Batista’s night.
Reliever Miguel Sanfler walked Andy Perrino and Lance Zawadzki blooped a two-run single to right and the Storm led 4-1.
Batista, the former Rangers Triple-A pitcher who was signed by the Dodgers in spring training and joined the Sixers out of extended spring training, struck out 11 in 5 2/3 innings, but walked four and hit two batters. He retired the Storm in order only once, in the fifth, and allowed eight runners to get into scoring position.
The Sixers cut into a 5-1 deficit with Scott Van Slyke’s third homer of the year, a two-run shot in the seventh.

“It was still a close game then they scored four in the eighth and it got out of hand,” Sixers manager Carlos Subero said. “These kids still have to learn.”

Those four runs put the game out of reach.

The Sixers also had some trouble in the third when they failed to score after having runners on first and second with no outs. Garett Green bunted into a force play and then Kenley Jansen was doubled off second on Trayvon Robinson’s soft liner to end it.

“We’ve got to get that bunt down,” Subero said. “And we teach them to freeze on those line drives. That could’ve been a big inning.”

Lake Elsinore scored first in the first inning without benefit of a hit, or an error.
With one out, Andy Perrino was hit by a pitch, Lance Zawadzki walked and the two moved up on a wild pitch. When Felix Carrasco swung and missed for strike three, the ball was in the dirt and Perrino scored from third.
The Sixers tied it up in the fourth, when Preston Mattingly hit the first pitch of the inning into the batting cages in left for his second home run of the season, making it 1-1.

QUAKES
Like the 66ers, the Quakes are enduring an abysmal homestand against the top two teams in the South Division.

On Friday, the Quakes opened a four-game series with the first-place High Desert Mavericks and came up on the short end of a 6-5 loss at the Epicenter. The Quakes are now 0-4 on the homestand.

The game got out of control in the seventh when the Mavericks scored four runs, snapping a 2-2 tie. Travis Scott’s homer started the rally, but the back-breaker was three consecutive walks, the last two with the bases loaded to force home two runs.

The Quakes cut into the 6-2 deficit with three in the eighth on Julio Perez’s two-run triple and Efren Navarro’s sacrifice fly, but never got the tying run on base.

The Quakes made a roster move on Friday, as reliever Cephas Howard was sent to extended spring training.
Howard and fellow reliever Andrew Taylor were removed from Thursday’s game in the middle of Lake Elsinore at bats.
“Something didn’t look right,” Johnson said after the game.
Taylor has a pulled muscle in his side but was not placed on the disabled list Friday.