Biggest comeback of the year for Hillcats

By Andy Bitter

Published: July 5, 2008

With the Pirates’ leading player development personnel on hand this weekend, the Hillcats are bound and determined to show that every batter, no matter where he hits in the lineup, is capable of putting down a bunt when called upon.

It’s a move that backfired Thursday night on a botched suicide squeeze.

It didn’t work in a key situation in Friday’s game either, when the bunt came off too hard and led to a force out at third.

Undeterred, Lynchburg put down a pair of bunts in the eighth inning Saturday. They worked like a charm and set up Kris Watts’ two-run double that completed the Hillcats’ biggest comeback win of the season, a 7-5 triumph against Frederick at City Stadium.

The win gave the Hillcats (10-6) their first six-game winning streak since May of last year.

“You get a team that gets some momentum and everybody buys into the fact that whether we’re up or whether we’re down, we’re going to play hard,” Watts said. “Everybody is just playing for the team right now and everybody loves winning.”

The team hasn’t won seven straight since going on an eight-game streak in late-June and early-July of 2005.

Lynchburg trailed 5-0 before mounting a comeback. It finally got to Keys starter Pedro Beato for three runs in the sixth before Jim Negrych’s RBI single made it a 5-4 game in the seventh. The hit also extended Negrych’s hitting streak to a season-best 17 games, tying Lee Evans (2000) for the sixth-longest streak in Hillcats history.

The Lynchburg eighth started with a leadoff double by Miles Durham. Next up was Eddie Prasch, who took it upon himself to lay down a bunt to move the runner up. His placement was good enough that Frederick (5-11) couldn’t throw him out, putting runners at the corners.

That brought up Jared Keel. Hillcats manager Jeff Branson gave him one swing to do something before putting on the bunt signal. Keel, who had 10 home runs this season but no sacrifice bunts, put it down beautifully, moving Prasch to second.

“(Bunting) is really something that’s been preached to them all year,” Branson said, “but we really haven’t begun to enforce it like we’ve started to now.”

Watts was next. The left-hander took a ball from reliever Zach Clark (1-2) before driving a low, outside fastball to the left-center field gap. Durham and Prasch easily scored to give Lynchburg its first lead at 6-5.

“When you’re a hitter, you know when you got one good,” Watts said. “You see the numbers on the backs of (the outfielders’) jerseys and you know it’s in the gap.”

Watts later scored on a passed ball for an insurance run before Hillcats reliever Moises Robles closed things out with a double play and a ground out for his fifth save of the season.

The only thing that didn’t go right for Lynchburg was starter Daniel Moskos’ outing. The former fourth overall pick failed to get past two innings for the second time in his last three starts.

He gave up three runs in an eight-batter, 37-pitch second inning. He struggled with his command, going to a full count on three straight batters and allowing each of them to reach.

Chris Amador’s two-run double to left made it 3-0. Moskos struck out the next two batters but was not allowed to come out for another inning.

“The big thing was just his command,” Branson said. “His last inning when he came out, he went to his changeup, which right now is his bread and butter pitch, and he got out of the inning. But he’s got to be able to command his fastball.”

Lynchburg relievers Kevin Roberts and Blair Johnson (2-1) picked him up, though. Both pitched three innings to bridge the gap to Robles and both gave up just one run (Roberts’ was unearned), keeping the Hillcats in the game.

At this point, that’s all they need. Someone is bound to come through when it matters.

“Everybody is coming to the yard ready to go,” Watts said. “Whether they get called in for a pinch hit in the ninth or guys are 0-for-3 and have got to get a situation done, guys are sacrificing personal stats for the team.”