8 July 2056
Boise, Idaho
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by Fish McWilliams
Boise Spuds 53 39 .576 4.5 GB L10: 4-6, Strk: L3
SP Gavrilovich Mastinsky
19 G, 19 GS, 7-6, 103.1 IP, 4.35 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, +1.4 WAR
This was just a disaster of a Sim for Boise...with a very tiny bit of light. It was fortunate that the Sim was only 4 games long thanks to the All-Star break. Boise played four games at Calgary, who was only 2 games behind the Spuds chasing Frontier leader Mexico City.
@ Calgary 13-6 W
@ Calgary 2-9 L
@ Calgary 2-8 L
@ Calgary 3-4 L
It was encouraging to get the first game victory, but all downhill from there. This Sim can mostly be hung on the bullpen. The Spuds allowed an average of 6.75 runs per game and it was just too much for Boise's offense to keep up. Boise put 3 runs up in the 3rd inning of the opener but Calgary immediately answered with 4 of their own in the bottom of the frame. The Spuds would come back thanks to a 5-run 7th and a 4-run 9th. In the 2nd contest, Boise starter Mauro Mendoza allowed 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning and that pretty much decided the game as the team could only manage 2 runs.
The penultimate game followed a similar script but the bit inning for Calgary came in the 8th when they posted 6 runs on relievers Pete Bonaddio and lefty Toshikuni Kubo. The final game was a closer affair with rookie SP Geoffrey Greening allowing only 2 runs over 6 innings. The bullpen, however, would wash away that effort as Kubo once again allowed multiple runs in 2 IP to blow the lead and take the loss.
Fortunately, Phoenix swept Mexico City in a 4-game series but Boise still trails the Aztecs by 4.5 games. The problem is that Rocky Mountain and now Calgary have leapfrogged the Spuds such that Boise sits 0.5 games out of a wild card berth.