Redhawks' bats heat up

After a three-hit, shutout game on Friday night, the Redhawks were hungry for hits and runs. They made up for it Saturday night, pounding out 11 hits and crossing home plate six times.

Oklahoma wasted no time getting on the board. CF Jason Ellison lead off with a walk and stole a base. Nelson Cruz moved him over, and Jason Botts brought him home on a two-out single to right. The Redhawks got their leadoff man on base again in the second inning when 2B Ryan Roberts worked his way out of an 0-2 hole back to a full count and then dropped a single. Taylor Teagarden hit one over the fence one batter later to give the Redhawks a 3-0 lead. The Redhawks added one run in the 4th and two more in the 5th. They had at least one hit in every inning except the 3rd and 7th.

Meanwhile, Redhawks pitching remained strong as four arms teamed up to shutout the Iowa Cubs. I-Cubs LF Matt Murton was the only offensive threat, going 3 for 4 on the night. Robinson Tejeda had a nice outing. Although he worked a bit slow for my taste (especially on a chilly night that felt more appropriate for football than baseball), he got the job done. He threw 104 pitches in six innings of work, 63 of which were strikes. He struck out eight and gave up just four hits and two walks. Wes Littleton was the most impressive Redhawks pitcher of the night. He worked very quickly and sat the 7-8-9 batters in order, two on strikeouts and on on a groundout. He needed just eight pitches for his inning of work, seven of which were strikes. Bill White and Kea Kometani were slightly less efficient, but, like Tejeda, they got the job done.

KISS: Taylor Teagarden. Even though he twice got caught in rundowns, the catcher was 2 for 2 with a pair of walks and a pair of RBI. Oh, and he also signed a baseball for me after the game, but he'd already impressed me even before that :)

MISS: I was pretty disappointed in DH Joaquin Arias. He was 1 for 5 with a strikeout. His lone hit didn't come until the top of the 9th.

I'm exhausted after a long day in cemeteries and then an evening of baseball, so I don't think I'll watch the Rangers-Indians game from tonight. Looking at the box score, alone, it looks like errors may have been very costly in this game. The two home runs Scott Feldman gave up probably didn't help either. I am impressed that my boys managed eight hits off Cliff Lee, arguably one of the hottest pitchers in the AL right now, and it's really no surprise to me that half of those hits were by Young and Hamilton.

I'll be working on pictures from Friday and tonight in a bit and posting them with my entry tomorrow.