Published: April 16, 2008 11:06 am            

Errors doom LumberKings

CLINTON — The Clinton LumberKings' error-filled night cost the team seven unearned runs and the game in a 10-5 loss to the Quad-Cities River Bandits Tuesday night.

The team committed seven errors, including three in the fourth inning and two in one play one.

The LumberKings went down early 2-0, but the L-Kings would answer in the second. Jose Felix led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch.

Miguel Alfonzo followed with a single. Andres James’ chopper to the pitcher plated Felix. Engel Beltre’s single scored Alfonzo, knotting it up 2-2.

Jose Felix gave the LumberKings a three-run advantage in the next inning when he belted a shot down the left-field line, scoring Tim Smith. Felix went 3-for-4. Cristian Santana scored on a double by Smith.

Then came the errors. In the fourth frame Beau Riportella led off with a walk, followed by Luis De La Cruz’s infield hit. Riportella scored on a throwing error by Renny Osuna and another error by Alfonzo moved De La Cruz to third.

Mike Folli was then hit by a pitch. An attempted pick-off of Folli at first turned into another run as Ian Gac’s throw ended up in center field. Still, the LumberKings had a 5-4 advantage.

Clinton starter Ryan Tatusko went three innings, gave up two runs, one earned run, walked five and struck out four.

“He had a tough time getting in a groove,” Clinton manager Mike Micucci said. “He hasn’t pitched much with all the rainouts early on.”

The fifth inning wasn’t much better for the L-Kings as the River Bandits scored three more times. A dropped flyball led to two more unearned runs.

The Bandits took 7-5 lead and did not surrender another run.

L-King notes: The other night LumberKing starter Evan Reed made a spot start for the Rangers’ Double-A team, the Frisco RoughRiders. Reed went five innings, giving up four hits and yielding no runs, walked none and struck out three in picking up the win. He is 2-0 and hasn’t given up a run this season between Clinton and Frisco. Reed did get some high quality lessons from his trip.

“The main thing I learned was to make your pitches more times than not,” he said. “When you make your pitches you’ll get the result that you want.”

Even though he made and impressive start Reed knows he has a long way to go.

“That’s where you want to be, but baseball is a process. I understand that and that takes time.”

        

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