Chukars’ Reyes battles through 6 but offense silenced in loss
Published at
IDAHO FALLS — The Oakland Ballers, aided by a pair of free passes to start the inning, plated four runs in the second, and starter Zach Saint Pierre made the outburst stand up in a 5-1 victory over the Chukars Wednesday night at Melaleuca Field.
Idaho Falls starter Caleb Reyes worked around a two-out single in the first inning, but was doomed by command issues in the second.
Reyes hit Oakland DH Tripp Clark with a 3-2 pitch to start the frame, then walked right fielder Brett Carson before giving up back-to-back run-scoring hits. He told EastIdahoNews.com that he has been battling a mechanical issue for several weeks.
“I haven’t felt like myself recently, so today was all about making a comeback and getting some scoreless innings,” he said.
Aside from the second, Reyes was happy with his performance, giving his club 6 strong innings while limiting the Oakland damage to their four second-inning runs. The four scoreless frames Reyes tossed to finish his night is something he said he will look to continue into his next start.
“I’m definitely happy with the results those last four (innings) — it’s something to build on,” he said.
Chukars manager Troy Percival said Reyes allowed the game to speed up on him. The former Major League All-Star said he could see his starter’s breathing “got rapid” and his approach became visibly rushed.
“He calmed back down and I thought he did a really good job getting through 6,” Percival said.
The problem Wednesday was not Reyes’ second-inning hiccup, according to Percival, it was Saint Pierre — specifically, the Oakland righty’s changeup.
“He had command of his changeup,” the skipper said. “He threw just enough fastball to keep us off of (the changeup) — not many guys can throw that many changeups for strikes. We didn’t do a very good job of adjusting to it.”
Saint Pierre lasted 6-2/3 innings, holding the Chukars offense to one run on four hits. Still, there was, again, a positive to take away. Despite his keeping the Idaho Falls hitters off balance with his off-speed weapon, Saint Pierre struck out just three.
Percival said that his hitters battled well to put the ball in play, but would have liked to see more than the soft grounders and weak fly balls the bats provided.
“I’d like to see us have a better approach at the plate,” he said. “It’s a little frustrating that we could’t sit on an off-speed pitch, which you have to do sometimes when a guy’s throwing predominantly off-speed. We just stayed on fastball, stayed on fastball and it showed.”
The Chukars have dropped six of their last seven are are currently in ninth place in the Pioneer Baseball League second-half standings (8-12) — 10th overall (28-40).
They will host the ballers for game three of a six-game set Thursday night at Melaleuca Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.