Osprey Preview: Game #75
Who: Missoula Osprey (37–37, 18–18) @ Great Falls Voyagers (33–41, 18–18)
Where: Centene Stadium — Great Falls, MT
When: 7:00 P.M. (MT) first pitch
How To Listen: ESPN 102.9 FM | MiLB First Pitch App| MiLB.com
THE MATCHUP
The Osprey and Voyagers resume a four-game series on Friday that shifts to Great Falls. The Osprey have won 3 of 6 games against the Voyagers in Great Falls, including three in a row. From July 5 to the current date, the Osprey have won 7 of the last 9 meetings between the two teams, losing last night 10–8 at Ogren Park at Allegiance Field.
LAST NIGHT
With Kai-Wei Lin earning his first start since August 11, the Taiwanese right-hander fired a pair of perfect innings to open the evening. In the third, however, Lin’s early success expired, as Great Falls surged for four runs on four hits and a hit batsman to take an early 4–0 lead. The next inning, the Voyagers plated two additional runs on three more hits, including a solo homer.
Lin exited after the fourth, trailing 6–0 and eventually was saddled with his sixth loss of the season. In four full innings of work, Lin surrendered six runs (all earned) on seven hits, while striking out one without a walk.
In the bottom of the fifth, Missoula’s lineup jolted to life for its first score of the game on a two-base throwing error by Great Falls third baseman Anthony Villa. The subsequent half inning, the Voyagers responded with a trio of runs against Osprey reliever Damian Defrank, who surrendered four hits and a walk in two innings of relief. Following Defrank’s exit at the conclusion of the sixth, Osprey relievers Elvis Luciano and Pierce Romero combined to hold Great Falls hitless over the game’s final three innings, despite surrendering an unearned run on a throwing error in the ninth.
Trailing 9–1 in the bottom of the sixth, the Osprey opened a run of seven consecutive runs, scoring once on a solo homer by Andy Yerzy to center field and again on an error. The homer was the first of two for Yerzy on Thursday night, as the catcher recorded his second multi-homer game of the year.
After a scoreless top of the seventh from Luciano, the first player born in the year 2000 or later to debut for the Osprey, Ernie De La Trinidad reached base on a throwing error by Great Falls pitcher Fernando Gallegos. Eduardo Diaz then singled to score Diaz, cutting Missoula’s deficit to 9–6. With two men out in the eighth, Yerzy uncorked his second home run of the game to pull the Osprey within a run of Great Falls. The catcher fouled off four consecutive 3–2 pitches from Blake Battenfield before hammering the 10th offering 445 feet to right-center field.
Trailing 9–8, however, the Osprey failed to complete the comeback when Great Falls scored in the top of the ninth on a throwing error by Joel Novas and the lineup went down in sequence in the bottom half of the inning.
TONIGHT
The Osprey hit the road for the final series of the regular season, a two-game set at Great Falls. With their playoff ticket already punched and home field advantage firmly secured, the Osprey have little to nothing riding on their final two games. Their opponents, the Voyagers, are playing to determine whether or not they will make the postseason.
The formula has been simplified to the following scenario: if Great Falls wins one or both of their final two games, they will host the Osprey for the first round playoff opener on Sunday. If the O’s sweep the two games in Great Falls, however, the Osprey will head to Billings for the first round of the postseason.
Missoula will hand the ball to right-hander Jimmy Johnson, who has waffled between starting and relieving roles, most recently working as a reliever. He’ll be faced by right-hander Kyle Von Ruden from Great Falls, who has been among the Pioneer League’s best pitchers in 2017. His last start, however, ended in a loss to the Osprey after allowing 7 runs in the first inning at Centene Stadium.
Johnson has pitched three times previously against the Voyagers, starting once at Centene Stadium on July 5. Between his three appearances, Johnson has gone 1–0 and posted an ERA of 9.53 in 5.2 innings of work, striking out 4 and walking 3.
LINEUP
- Ernie De La Trinidad — CF
- Eddie Hernandez — 3B
- Keshawn Lynch — DH
- Gavin Stupienski — C
- Juan Araujo — RF
- William Gorman — LF
- Jose Caballero — 2B
- Terence Connelly — 1B
- Brandon Leyton — SS
- P — Jimmy Johnson (RHP)
