Effective pitcher blanks inept Hens

6/15/2005
BY JOHN WAGNER
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
Ottawa's Midre Cummings bolts toward third as the Hens' Jack Hannahan throws out Tim Raines Jr. for the third out.
Ottawa's Midre Cummings bolts toward third as the Hens' Jack Hannahan throws out Tim Raines Jr. for the third out.

It was hard to tell if Ottawa starter Rick Bauer was outstanding last night, or if the Mud Hen offense was terrible.

The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Bauer and two Lynx relievers held Toledo to a season-low two hits in a 5-0 victory at Fifth Third Field.

"It looked like [Bauer] had a good sinker tonight," Parrish said. "But if it were only one night where we struggled, you'd tip your cap. But this is a pattern, so right now it's tough for us to judge. Is a guy throwing good or are we not swinging good?"

Bauer held the Mud Hens without a hit through the first five innings before Sandy Martinez led off the sixth with a single. Gookie Dawkins

followed with a double into the left-field corner that sent Martinez to third.

But with the Ottawa infield back to concede a run, Bauer struck out Kevin Hooper on four pitches, Curtis Granderson on three pitches, and Carlos Pena on a 3-2 breaking ball.

"We have runners on second and third, nobody out, and the infield back, and if you score those runs it's 4-2 and a different ball game," Parrish said.

Bauer said suddenly going from no-hitter to big trouble didn't change his focus.

"I didn't know about the no-hitter," Bauer said. "All I cared about was [keeping] the score down and getting guys out one at a time.

''That's probably the reason I'm down here - I didn't take things one batter at a time."

In the seventh Toledo's Dewayne Wise claimed a four-pitch walk from Bauer, then stole second and moved to third on a throwing error by the catcher. But Wise never left third, despite the Lynx again playing back and conceding the run, because after Mike Hessman was walked, Jack Hannahan popped out and Martinez flew out.

The Mud Hens were hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Toledo starter Wil Ledezma managed to keep Ottawa off the scoreboard until the fifth, although the Lynx stranded

baserunners in each of the first four innings.

Ledezma got in trouble in the fifth when he issued a four-pitch walk to Mike Moriarty, the ninth-

place hitter who was batting .118 at the start of the game.

Bernie Castro then lined a drive to deep right that bounced on the warning track, then over the fence for a ground-rule double.

With the infield in, Ed Rogers hit a slow roller to third that Hannahan struggled to get out of his glove; Hannahan threw Rogers out at first, but Moriarty scored.

Ledezma limited the damage by getting a groundout and a flyout that stranded Castro at third.

But the wheels came off for the southpaw in the sixth when he allowed three runs on four hits, including a two run double by Moriarty.

What particularly bothered Parrish about that inning was poor play by Ryan Raburn at second and Pena at first on a bunt single by Tim Raines Jr.

"Raburn had his head up his butt out there and didn't get to first base," Parrish said. "Then Pena came charging in on a bunt that wasn't his.

''We had both guys on that side of the field misplay that ball.

"And when you have to pitch through things like that, it wears you down."

NOTES: The parent Tigers completed the moves they began Wednesday when they called up Alexis Gomez and Jason Smith. Yesterday Detroit sent Marcus Thames to Toledo. Thames is expected to join the Mud Hens tomorrow when they begin a series in Rochester.

Contact John Wagner at:

jwagner@theblade.com

or 419-724-6481.