Rice finally knocks the UAB ace out of the game in T6 with a HBP and a couple singles. 5-1 Rice. The reliever has a 7.71 ERA with only 2 Ks in 7.0 innings of work on the year. Not sure why the UAB coach appears to be throwing in the towel already. Doesn't he know who he's playing, and how bad our bullpen is?

T6, cont'd:

Wright in to pitch. 6-4, 180-pound RHP. 7.71 ERA.

Two outs ... runners at 1st & 2nd.

Bulman taps 1-1 pitch to short, 6-4 fielder's choice putout ends the inning.

5-1, Rice ... heading to B6.

B6:

Wiff!!

Routine F-7.

3-1 pitch is another one of those just-barely-low ball 4s. Bummer.

Bloop single to short right field. Gneiting called off Karp, but couldn't quite make the diving catch. Runner at 1st made it to 3rd.

1-2 pitch tapped back to Holcomb ... but he missed it! Went right through his legs! Fortunately, it rolled right to Hughes just fast enough for him to catch it and step on 2nd base for the forceout. Whew!!

5-1, Rice ... after 6.

Holcomb appears to be afraid to pitch to Zach Davis. Hit him his first time up, and he came around to score on a wild pitch. Walked him on 5 pitches here with two outs, and he moves to 3B on a single....and now facing the guy who had the only two hits against him prior to this inning....but he gets out of it unscathed.

I'd start getting someone up and loosening up in the pen this point. Holcomb has thrown a lot of pitches. I doubt he has more than one more solid inning left in him. Fortunately, he's got the bottom of the order due up in the 7th.

(05-07-2021 07:44 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  ... The reliever has a 7.71 ERA with only 2 Ks in 7.0 innings of work on the year. Not sure why the UAB coach appears to be throwing in the towel already. Doesn't he know who he's playing, and how bad our bullpen is?

I suspect that your UAB fan counterpart is also upset that the UAB batters are making Holcomb (who came into the game with a 6+ ERA) look like an All-American/1st-round draft choice/Cy Young Award caliber pitcher. :-)

T7:

Off-speed 2-2 pitch up in the zone freezes Garibay for called strike 3.

Karp hits 3-2 pitch deep behind 3rd base ... UAB fielder makes a good throw to complete the putout.

Becker pops up a high 1-2 pitch into left field. Routine F-7.

5-1, Rice ... heading to B7.

B7:

Another strike 'em out, have to throw 'em out at 1st base to complete the K.

2-1 pitch lined to RF for a solid single.

"There is now activity down in the Owls' bullpen."

3-2 pitch ... runner goes ... UAB batter wiffs on a pitch likely high & outside ... Long nails the runner at second! WooHOO!!

Whew!!

5-1, Rice ... after 7.

T8:

Hughes smacks 1-0 pitch to center ... solid single.

Hughes goes ... Long hits fly ball to deepish right center. Caught by the centerfielder. Hughes doesn't see it, though, and it easily doubled off first ... even though the throw to first got through the first baseman, bounced HIGH into the air ... and was caught by the pitcher backing up the play. He still had plenty of time to walk the ball to the bag. (Hughes was never in the picture.)

Edwards hits infield single to short. Throw was also off-line, but was rule a hit.

Comeaux walks on 3-2 pitch a bit high & inside.

2 on, 2 out.

Pitching change.

T8, cont'd:

After a bunch of fouled-off pitches, Gneiting hits a HIGH foul out to the 1st baseman.

5-1, Rice ... heading to B8.

B8:

Deskins in to pitch for Rice!

1-0 pitch popped up foul to Comeaux.

2-0 pitch lofted high to deepish LF. F-7.

3-2 breaking ball fools the UAB hitter. Wiff!!

1-2-3 inning for Deskins. Yay!!

5-1, Rice ... after 8.

T9:

Bulman launches 1-0 pitch over the CF wall! Yes!

6-1, Rice!

Garibay hits high flyout to RF.

Karp hits 1-0 pitch down the 1st baseline for a single.

Becker pops out to SS.

Hughes slaps 2-1 pitch into the left-side hole, where it's smothered by UAB's diving SS. No throw. Infield single. Karp to 2nd base.

Long hits 1-1 pitch hard to SS ... who bobbles it and tosses it to the 2nd baseman covering the bag ... too high! He leaps to catch it, but Hughes slides in safely. E-6.

Bases loaded. 2 outs.

But Edwards hits his first pitch to 3rd. 5-3 groundout. Bummer.

6-1, Rice ... heading to B9.

Close it out, Owls!!

B9:

Slow bouncer to SS. Hughes makes a good play, charging to complete the 6-3 groundout.

Sharp grounder to 2B ... rolls up Karp's arm ... but he recovers in time to make the throw to 1st. 4-3.

Two lovely pitches for called strikes ... then three balls! ... WIFF!! Yes!!

Owls win!!

6-1. WTG, Rice!

Owls win 6-1. Nice job by Holcomb and Deskins.

We've won 3 straight conference series openers (and have gone 1-5 in the rest of the games). As I said earlier, we need a sweep realistically to stay in the postseason conference tournament hunt. But I guess just take it 1 game at a time.

Deskins with his 4th or 5th consecutive strong relief outing. This is the role he should have been in from the get-go, rather than jockeying him back and forth as a starter and reliever.

Rice wins 6-1. Third consecutive Friday night win after losing 6 consecutive Friday games.

Solid win, but against a team that might be even worse than we are...and despite the 6 runs, the offense continues to be incredibly inefficient. 14 hits (including 2 HRs, 2 doubles), 4 BBs, 2 HBPs, 1 UAB error...yet we somehow managed only 6 runs. That's very hard to do.

Kuddos to the pitching of Holcomb and Deskins, but again, recognize that the UAB offense is statistically worse than ours.

Surprised there are no posts about today’s game which is already in the T7. Game is tied 1-1 with the 1 UAB run being unearned. Garcia has given up only 3 hits in 6 innings.

(05-08-2021 03:20 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  Surprised there are no posts about today’s game which is already in the T7. Game is tied 1-1 with the 1 UAB run being unearned. Garcia has given up only 3 hits in 6 innings.

And given this is, by far, his longest outing of the year, he has hit the wall in B7, giving up back to back singles to lead off the inning. I truly hope Bragga had someone warming in the pen before the two singles. If not, it's deja vu all over again-- we've seen this game before at least a dozen times this year.

Three consecutive hits to start B7. Rice now trails 1-2, with runners on 2B and 3B, no outs. And that's the ball game.

Once again-- what else is new-- the Rice offense sets new standards for inefficiency. 6 hits, 6 BBs, 3 SBs in 7 innings, yet only one run, and 11 runners left on base. And prior to the game-winner, the UAB other run was unearned.

I guess Bragga was saving the pen for ... ???? Don’t know Roel’s pitch count, but he gave up as many hits in the B7 as he had in the 1st 6 innings.

(05-08-2021 03:33 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  I guess Bragga was saving the pen for ... ???? Don’t know Roel’s pitch count, but he gave up as many hits in the B7 as he had in the 1st 6 innings.

Almost every game this year Roel has hit the wall at some point between the 4th and 6th inning. Every single outing. And numerous times he had a shutout going before he suddenly hit that wall. Had we been leading heading to the B7 I would have let him start the inning, with a couple guys full warmed up and ready to go if/when he allowed the first baserunner. But in a 1-1 tie, with the game decided on the next run, I would have had Garibay or DeLeon start the 7th inning. It's not like we were facing the heart of the UAB order either. The 3 guys who got hits in the 7th were the #7, #8 and a PH for the #9 hitter-- all had batting AVGs under .235. To leave Roel in after the first hit tells me he had no one up in the pen. Same old, same old. He never learns.

It's almost as if Bragga/Barton don't do any charting, or remember patterns/tendencies that have occurred throughout the season.