Granted the sim could have gone better, perhaps, had the Lumberjacks had a rotation and staff in tact and not exhausted. The tiring of the pitching staff forced the front office to call up minor league signee C.J. Ischade from Triple-A Quincy to start a pair of games. It went about as well as you'd expect it to go. Ishchade picked up a pair of losses and will now likely get sent back to Triple-A for the remainder of the season, costing Portland another half million in salary costs on the season.
But hey, don't look now. Portland is in 5th place!
Pitcher of the Sim
Vincente Venalde
It was difficult to find a pitcher of the sim. Not because we were extremely bad, but no one was extremely good either. Venalde was solid in Portland's 5-1 over Valencia. In the contest, Venalde allowed a run on 6 hits and a walk over 4 innings of work. He struck out a batter and walked a batter.
Hitter of the Sim
Andrew Gallagher
That's two consecutive sims for Gallagher as our top hitter. This week, Andrew hit .346 with a pair of homeruns, 5 doubles, and 6 RBI. Seven of his nine hits this week went for extra bases, allowing him to post a 1.267 OPS for the week!
Kate's Kookies Highlight of the Week
Simple. I can't recall if Portland has ever swept a 4-game series from anyone. So clearly our sweep of Valencia, on the road no less, is our highlight. We outscored the Stars 26-14 in the series. Only in the finale did we have to overcome a deficit. Portland allowed 3 in the 3rd inning to fall behind 3-0. We scored 3 in the next inning to tie it and 2 more in the 5th to take the lead. A lead we'd never relinquish that secured the sweep.