ORE-IDA® TATER-TOTS EMOJI SUMMARY OF THE WEEK:
HITTER OF THE WEEK: Félix Román - 7-for-19, 1 HR, 4 RBI (.368 AVG, 1.164 OPS)
PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Pancho Germán - 1-0, 8.0 IP, 6 K, 1 BB (1.13 ERA, 0.50 WHIP)
GAME OF THE WEEK: In a high-scoring affair between the Spuds and the Mexico City Aztecs on April 9th, the final meeting of three-game series in Boise, designated hitter Drew Hair provided late-inning heroics. With the Spuds down 8-5 in the 9th inning, 36-year-old second baseman Jared Gillstrom led off the inning with a solo home run on the first pitch from Gérard Wagner. After getting Motonobu Yamashita to ground out, Dennis French worked a nine-pitch at-bat resulting in a walk. Félix Román would reach on a fielder's choice, leaving Boise with just one out and still trailing 8-6. Rookie Ricardo Ruíz would single on the next pitch, moving Román to second. Wagner fell into serious trouble when he walked Hank Brewer to load the bases. Aztecs manager Fernando Aguilar had seen enough, making the call to the bullpen to bring in flame-throwing Abdi Murunga. As lumbering first baseman Yunosuke Terada made his way to the plate, the Boise crowd of 39,805 got on their feet, cheering as if it was a playoff game. Murunga, clearly rattled from seeing so many fans at a Boise game, prompted balked, putting Terada on first and moving all the runners up a bag, including Román into score to make it 8-7. Hair, finding him down to his final strike, lined a sharp single into the gap, driving home Ruíz to tie the game with Brewer right behind him, crossing the plate without a throw from the centerfielder. The Boise dugout sprinted home to greet the runners, than chased down Hair into shallow right field, ripping off his jersey and dunking him with water to celebrate the walk-off win.
JOHNSON LEAGUE FRONTIER DIVISION STANDINGS
TEAM | WINS | LOSES | WIN% | GB | RD |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Calgary Pioneers | 8 | 3 | .727 | - | +23 |
Boise Spuds | 8 | 3 | .727 | - | +16 |
Phoenix Talons | 8 | 4 | .667 | 0.5 | +11 |
San Antonio Outlaws | 6 | 5 | .545 | 2 | +9 |
Edmonton Jackrabbits | 6 | 5 | .545 | 2 | -12 |
Las Vegas Hustlers | 4 | 7 | .364 | 4 | -10 |
Mexico City Aztecs | 3 | 8 | .273 | 5 | -8 |
Wichita Aviators | 3 | 9 | .250 | 5.5 | -18 |
DOWN ON THE FARM: Salt Lake City (AAA) went 5-1 during the week to raise their record to 8-4, first in the Western Division...whereas pitching is the parent club's weakness, it is the strength of the Alpines, led by Jorge Maestas (1-1, 1.15 ERA, 1.15 WHIP) and Kent Montoya (2-0, 1.62 ERA, 1.02 WHIP)...unfortunately Carlos Díaz has yet to keep the pace of his fellow prospect arms, putting up a 6.94 ERA through two starts... the Weymouth Irish (AA) went 3-4 during the week and sit at 7-6 on the year...organizational Top 20 prospect LHP Seitaro Ugaki continues to struggle keeping the ball in the park...despite spending a third-straight season in AA, Ugaki has given up four HR in only 14.2 innings, bloating his ERA to 8.59 through three starts...after a great start, Tulsa (A) lost six of seven for the week, seeing their record fall below .500 (5-8)