9-News: 36.045 – YS9 Gets Late Inning Magic

[RonCo]

Nine Takes 2 of 3 From TWC



The Twin Cities River Monsters may be having a tough season, but everyone knows how dangerous they can be, and after returning home from a tough trip to California, the Nine found themselves down 3-1 to the River Monsters in the bottom of the ninth.

But after Angel De Castillo grounded out to lead off the ninth, Lucas McNeill scratched out an base hit and Rob Thomas blasted an opposite field homer to tie the game, bringing fans to an electric pitch. Aaron Stone walked, and manager Bret Richards chose to bring in Carlos Garcia to pinch run. A stolen base later, the River Monsters intentionally walked George Robertson. The tactic looked like it would work, as reliever Juan Sanchez got Carlos Camacho to strike out.

But he still had to face Mauro Saucedo. The 22-year-olds struggles have been well-documented, but on this night, the Dominican dropped a bloop single to left that scored the speedy Garcia with the winning run.

A night later, the team was back in dire straights, down 3-2 to Twin Cities in the bottom of the tenth, two outs, no one on. This time Garcia fouled off three pitches before drawing a walk. “That was the at-bat of the game, really,” said manager Bret Richards afterward. “Carlos is a professional. He understood what we needed and he got it done.”

Angel De Castillo followed that up with a hard single past first base that put Garcia on third.

Then came Lucas McNeill, who is, to be clear, having a McNeill kind of year. He took a ball first, then drove the second pitch of the at-bat 387 feet to right center, scoring all three and sending the fans home as 5-3 winners.

“That was really fun,” McNeill said after the game. “This team is feeling it, and the fans are feeling it. We’ve got a long way to go to catch Omaha, but the young guys are starting to get the feel of how the season goes. We’ll see what happens.”

[Spiccoli]

Headline in Twin Cities

"Bullpen collapses gives away 2 walk off games to Yellow Springs"