 |
| California's Roy Halladay Strikes Out 11 in Home Opener |
The California Roadrunners opened their 2012 campaign against the Springfield Isotopes. Springfield (105-57 in 2011) has captured the BRASS title in each of the past two seasons, and were hungry to start the new season off right in search of an unprecedented third straight league title. California (88-74 in 2011) fell short of the AL playoffs and made drastic changes in the off season in hopes to make up enough ground to make the post-season this year.
The Roadrunners scheduled their new ace, Roy Halladay for the home opener. Halladay went 20-6 with a 3.57 ERA and 207 strikeouts with the Latrobe Steel in 2011. The Isotopes trotted out Erik Bedard, who missed all of 2011 and was signed to a three-year deal this off season. The lineups were set. The hot dogs were burning. The beer was cold and expensive. It was time to play ball!
The game was tight through three innings. In the bottom of the fourth, the Roadrunners scratched out a run to take a 1-0 lead. Mike Aviles lead off the inning with a double. He then took third on a wild pitch by Bedard. Scott Sizemore struck out, but Brent Lillibridge hit a sacrifice fly to right that scored Aviles.
California got to Bedard once more in the fifth inning. Torii Hunter led the game off with a single, followed up by a double by left-fielder Jerry Sands. Aramis Ramirez was dealt an intentional walk to load the bases. Seeing an opportunity, Kosuke Fukudome was brought in to pinch hit for Jeff Mathis. Fukudome hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Hunter, putting the Roadrunners up 2-0.
Two runs were all Halladay needed in this one. Clearly set out to please the sellout crowd of over forty-seven thousand in Southern California, he pitched an absolute gem. The Roadrunners were victorious with Halladay going the distance with eleven strikeouts and only one walk. The Roadrunners are off and running in 2012!
BOXSCORE: 2012 Springfield Isotopes At 2012 California Roadrunners 4/5/2012 Isotopes AB R H RBI AVG Roadrunners AB R H RBI AVG N.Morgan LF 4 0 2 0 .500 M.Aviles SS 3 1 1 0 .333 J.Thole C 4 0 0 0 .000 B-Y.Torrealba C 0 0 0 0 ---- L.Berkman 1B 3 0 1 0 .333 S.Sizemore 2B 4 0 0 0 .000 H.Pence RF 4 0 0 0 .000 E-M.Ellis 2B 0 0 0 0 ---- J.Posada DH 4 0 0 0 .000 B.Lillibridge RF,LF 2 0 0 1 .000 R.Zimmerman 3B 3 0 0 0 .000 J.Mayberry Jr 1B 3 0 0 0 .000 F-R.Doumit PH 1 0 1 01.000 D-M.Moreland PH,1B 1 0 0 0 .000 G-J.Hairston Jr PR 0 0 0 0 ---- C.Lee DH 3 0 1 0 .333 S.Drew SS 4 0 0 0 .000 T.Hunter CF 3 1 1 0 .333 M.Scutaro 2B 3 0 0 0 .000 J.Sands LF 2 0 1 0 .500 I.Suzuki CF 3 0 1 0 .333 C-R.Cedeno SS 1 0 0 0 .000 A.Ramirez 3B 2 0 1 0 .500 J.Mathis C 1 0 0 0 .000 A-K.Fukudome PH,RF 1 0 0 1 .000 -- -- -- --- -- -- -- --- Totals 33 0 5 0 Totals 26 2 5 2 A-Pinch Hit For Mathis In 5th Inning B-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Aviles In 6th Inning C-Subbed Defensively (SS) For Sands In 6th Inning D-Pinch Hit For Mayberry Jr In 8th Inning E-Subbed Defensively (2B) For Sizemore In 9th Inning F-Pinch Hit For Zimmerman In 9th Inning G-Pinch Ran For Doumit In 9th Inning Isotopes........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 5 0 Roadrunners..... 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 - 2 5 1 Isotopes (0-1) IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA SCORESHEET E.Bedard LOSS(0-1) 6 4 2 2 1 7 0 3.00 A1 C5 S.Casilla 1 2/3 1 0 0 1 2 0 0.00 C6 D3 B.Bray 0 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 D4 Totals 8 5 2 2 2 9 0 Roadrunners (1-0) IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA SCORESHEET R.Halladay WIN(1-0) 9 5 0 0 1 11 0 0.00 A1 Totals 9 5 0 0 1 11 0 ATTENDANCE- 47,159 DATE- Sunday, April 5th 2012 TIME- Night WEATHER- Average UMPIRES- Tim McClelland, Larry Vanover, Mike Everitt, Mike Dimuro T- 2:36 LEFT ON BASE- Isotopes: 7 Roadrunners: 5 DOUBLE PLAYS- Isotopes: 0 Roadrunners: 0 ERRORS- M.Moreland DOUBLES- M.Aviles(1st), C.Lee(1st), J.Sands(1st) STOLEN BASES- I.Suzuki(1st) SACRIFICE FLIES- B.Lillibridge, K.Fukudome WALKS- L.Berkman, Y.Torrealba, A.Ramirez HIT BY PITCH- B.Lillibridge STRIKE OUTS- N.Morgan, J.Thole, L.Berkman, H.Pence, J.Posada-2, R.Zimmerman-2, M.Scutaro-2, I.Suzuki, M.Aviles, S.Sizemore-2, B.Lillibridge, J.Mayberry Jr, C.Lee, R.Cedeno, J.Mathis, K.Fukudome BALKS- R.Halladay WILD PITCHES- E.Bedard Roy Halladay reeled off a total of 11 strikeouts as the California Roadrunners defeated the Springfield Isotopes by the score of 2 to 0 at Angels Stadium. Halladay(1-0) was simply too much for the Springfield batters. He didn't give up much, just 5 hits and 1 walk in 9 innings. Both teams totaled 5 hits on the night. Erik Bedard(0-1) ended up with the loss. 'Halladay gave us exactly what we needed tonight.' Brendan Conrad said. 'When he threw the fastball he threw it for strikes. They were really fooled by his change. Most of the time he had them chasing it.'
