Owlz Leave Too Many On Base, Leave Wednesday with Loss

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- NoCo nearly stranded a season-high number of runners on Wednesday and wound up one run short.

It left birds on the bases from the beginning. The Owlz (7-6) scored a run in the first, but they also left the bases loaded. They grounded into a double play with the sacks packed in the second inning. In the fourth, they stranded two. Tack on two more the inning after that. 

Despite that deficiency, the Owlz still had every chance to win in the ninth.

Rocky Mountain (5-8) gave Miguel Pozo (S, 5) a chance at redemption. Tuesday's jaw-dropping defeat did come at his detriment, but that blown save and loss weren't really his fault. 

For a second, though, it looked like Tuesday may not have just been a fluke.

It turned out fine for his club, but NoCo kicked around a comeback threat for a beat.

Owlz down 9-6, Abdel Guadalupe led off the ninth with his second hit of the ballgame. That base knock gave the NoCo newbie his first multi-hit game as a pro. Euro Diaz wore a 1-0 pitch and Alex Jackson drew a four-pitch walk, which loaded the bases. Tim Bouchard charged a payoff pitch to center for a two-RBI single. 

That's when the blown opportunity bug bit again. A game-ending groundout grounded NoCo's chances, and the Vibes snapped a five-game losing streak.

By stranding two more in Wednesday's ninth inning, the Owlz left 14 men on base. That tally is the team's second highest all season, only one behind the 15 men they stranded vs. Grand Junction in mid-June. 

Even so, NoCo went 10-for-26 with runners on base, including a 6-for-19 clip with runners in scoring position. That still signals some solid swinging.

Brandon Crosby conked four hits to tie his personal season-high. In his first four at-bats, he walked, singled, doubled, and tripled in succession. Seventy-five percent of the way to the cycle was as far as he'd get, but he added a second single in the seventh. That one scored his second of two RBI on the evening. 

Jackson also earned two RBI off of two singles. The leadoff man went 2-for-3 with three free passes. 

Bouchard paired a productive RBI groundout with that ninth-inning knock to notch three RBI on the night. That effort establishes a personal season-high for the hot corner cornerstone. 

NoCo's swingers struggled with stranding runners on the same night its starter struggled with strike-throwing.

Call it a hardware hangover for Kida De La Cruz (L, 2-5). The reigning Pitcher of the Week in the Pioneer League's South Division couldn't replicate the wizardry on Wednesday. 

De La Cruz came out a little erratic. He didn't get a called strike until the fifth batter he faced. By then, he'd issued two four-pitch walks and surrendered two hits that scored a run. 

In the end, De La Cruz counted 41 strikes out of his 80 total pitches. Wednesday's outing became the first one in nearly a month where the righty racked up more walks than strikeouts. 

Isaiah Ramos relieved him, but Rocky Mountain mashed a homer off Ramos the first pitch he threw. After that, though, the southpaw settled in some, striking out four Vibes batters across his two innings. 

Also adding two innings was William Kirwan, who struck out two batters compared to two walks. Kirwan didn't give up any hits.

Speaking of hits, the Owlz found 14 of them in the game. It's their most in a game since scorching a season-high 20 against Rocky Mountain back on July 22. 

They won that game in July. They left about half the men on base that they did Wednesday night.

NoCo's next crack at converting opportunities comes on Thursday. The third game of this six-game set between South Division rivals is scheduled for 6:30 from UC Health Park.