1994 Foxes Home Game #22 – June 1

A folder was found during the renovations of Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Inside this folder, an era of Appleton Professional Baseball was rediscovered. The original scoresheets and boxscores from home games of the first half of the 1994 Foxes season. This was the time of Alex Rodriguez, Raul Ibanez, and many other future major league ball players.

Rattler Radio will look back at each of these games from 1994 between now and Opening Day, 2013. Enjoy.

DATE: June 1
OPPONENT: West Michigan Whitecaps
WHITECAPS STARTING PITCHER: Matt Walsh
FOXES STARTING PITCHER: Ryan Franklin
CONDITIONS: Cool, 60°
ATTENDANCE: 515

In Game #21, the Foxes rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth and scored the winning run in the bottom of the tenth on a wild pitch to defeat the Whitecaps. It’s been a close series so far and game #22 is no different.

FOXES LINEUP:
Mike Barger – cf
Manny Patel – 3b
Alex Rodriguez – ss
Raul Ibanez – c
Delwyn Young – dh
Scott Smith – rf
Marcus Sturdivant – lf
Giomar Guevara – 2b
James Clifford – 1b

WHITECAPS LINEUP:
Macel Galligani – lf
Jason McDonald – 2b
Willie Morales – c
DT Cromer – 1b
Mark Moore – dh
Tony Banks – cf
Mat Reese – rf
Vicente Francisco – 3b
Fred Soriano – ss

This would be the game the Foxes would score first. It had not happened in the series with the Whitecaps until this point.

Delwyn Young singled and moved to second on a throwing error by catcher Willie Morales. Scott Smith was next and he doubled to drive in Young. Then, Smith stole third and Vicente Francisco missed the throw for an error. Smith scored on the play for a 2-0 lead.

Ryan Franklin kept the Caps off the scoreboard until the fourth. DT Cromer started the inning with a single. Mark Moore walked. Tony Banks drove in Cromer with a double. Mat Reese drove in Moore with a grounder to first to tie the game 2-2.

West Michigan went in front in the fifth. Morales singled with one out and went to second on a single by Cromer. Franklin got the second out with a strikeout. Banks singled to right and Smith was charged with an error on the play – bobbled the grounder, missed the grounder, something the grounder. That error let Morales score and the Whitecaps to take a 3-2 lead.

Neither starting pitcher gave up another run and we fast forward to one out in the bottom of the eighth inning with the Foxes down 3-2.

Brian Wallace pinch-hit for James Clifford against Jason Rajotte and drew a walk. Mike Barger was next and he singled. A grounder by Manny Patel moved both runners into scoring position and brought Alex Rodriguez to the plate. The Whitecaps intentionally walked A-Rod. Raul Ibanez was next with the game on the line.

He sent a grounder to short and Fred Soriano threw the ball away! Two runs score and the Foxes are up 4-3!

Since Ibanez was not given an RBI on the play, I am going to conclude that Soriano was throwing the ball to the plate to cut down the tying run there.

MANTEI SAVES!

Matt Mantei relieved Franklin for the top of the ninth inning. There was a one out walk to Soriano, the #9 hitter for the Whitecaps. Then, there was a stolen base and a wild pitch that put Soriano on third base as the tying run. But, a strikeout and a grounder to second ended the game with the Foxes wining 4-3.

FOXES PLAYER OF THE GAME:
Ryan Franklin: 8IP, 7H, 3R, 2BB, 4K

NOTES:
Alex Rodriguez: 0-for-3, walk
Raul Ibanez: 1-for-4

Sloppy game. There were six errors committed in this contest. Three by each team. I wonder if the 60° weather for June 1 had anything to do with it.