Dust Devils notebook: Tri-City learning from baserunning errors
Teaching has been a major theme for the Dust Devils this week as the San Diego Padres’ director of player development has been with the team.
Wednesday night’s 10-1 victory over the Vancouver Canadians provided plenty of teachable moments.
The Padres make no bones about preaching aggressive baserunning throughout their organization. It’s a strategy that can at times be a double-edged sword, the sharp end of which the Dust Devils (8-5) felt Wednesday at Gesa Stadium as they had five runners thrown out on the basepaths. Some were trying to steal bases or leg out an extra bag on a ball in the gap, but others made mental errors that resulted in unnecessary outs.
“Five outs on the bases tonight, a couple of them are mistakes we can’t make,” Tri-City manager Ben Fritz said. “A couple of them are aggressive mistakes, which we will take. You’re going to get those when we’re trying to be aggressive. It’s tough to swallow, but we also have to understand it because we’re asking them to push themselves on the bases.”
Westhers Magdaleno provided an example of an “aggressive mistake” in the sixth inning. He ripped a two-out double to right to score three runs, but got thrown out on a relay while trying to stretch the play into a triple.
But plays such as Luis Asuncion getting wiped off of second for leaning too far toward third on a ground ball up the middle, or Kyle Overstreet getting thrown out at first on a back pick by the catcher, are mental mistakes that must be ironed out. Fritz said he was pleased with the way his players reacted to mistakes on the basepaths, acknowledging that an error occurred and ensuring that a similar play doesn’t happen again.
“Every (mistake), when you go to talk to them and they know they’ve done something wrong, that’s the coaching moment, and they’re doing it themselves,” Fritz said. “If we’re learning from it, we’re going forward.”
Asuncion breaks out
Asuncion didn’t have the greatest night on the basepaths, but there were plenty of opportunities to run in his first multi-hit game of the season — a 3-for-3 performance in which he doubled, walked and scored a run.
Asuncion extended his hitting streak to 11 games, the longest active streak in the Northwest League.
“I felt great tonight,” he said. “I just try to take the same approach to every game, and it’s working out.”
Headean dominates Vancouver hitters
Will Headean, the Padres’ 13th-round pick in the 2015 draft, started his third game of the season for the Dust Devils and once again was practically unhittable.
The 6-foot-4 left-hander threw five shutout innings and gave up one hit while striking out four Canadians. It was the third consecutive game in which a Tri-City pitcher went at least five innings and gave up one run or fewer.
Of the impressive performances from his starting pitchers, Fritz said: “We’re expecting it now. We know they’re going to go out there and give their best effort, and more times than not, we’re going to get what we’re getting right now. They’re quality arms, it doesn’t always go the way it has, but we’re going to enjoy it while we’re getting it for sure.”
Headean (2-0) picked up the win and dropped his ERA to 1.20. The only scuffs on his line were the two walks he issued and the batter he hit.
Looking ahead
With Wednesday’s win, the Dust Devils drew even with the Everett AquaSox for the NWL North division lead, which will add some intrigue to the three-game series between those teams beginning Friday at Gesa Stadium. All games are scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m.
The AquaSox have not announced their probable starting pitchers for the series, but Tri-City likely will go with Braxton Lorenzini (0-1, 9.55 ERA) on Friday, Emmanuel Ramirez (1-0, 1.20) on Saturday and Angel Mejia (1-0, 2.45) on Sunday.
The Dust Devils tried for a three-game sweep over Vancouver on Thursday night. Tri-City entered the game winning 12 of its past 15 contests against the Canadians.
Dust Devils 10, Canadians 1
Wednesday
Vancouver ab | r | h | bi | Tri-City ab | r | h | bi | ||
Woodman cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Easley 2b | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
Gudino ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Magee lf | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
C.Biggio dh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | White 3b | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
J.Andrson rf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Sosa 3b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
L.Jones lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ovrstreet 1b | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Romnin ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Baker ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Lizardo 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Mattison c | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Clark 1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Asuncion rf | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
J.Hrnendez c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Burgos cf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Barreto 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Mgdlno dh | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Totals 30 | 1 | 3 | 1 | Totals 28 | 10 | 10 | 7 | ||
Vancouver | 000 | 000 | 100 | — | 1 |
Tri-City | 200 | 006 | 20x | — | 10 |
E—Higuera (1), Lizardo (4), Baker (2). LOB—Tri-City 5, Vancouver 6. 2B—Hernandez (1), Magee (1), Asuncion (2), Magdaleno (1). SF—Overstreet, Baker. SB—L.Jones (3), Easley (2). CS—Burgos (2).
Vancouver | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Higuera L, 1-2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Smoral | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Noyalis | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Holmes | 2/3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
E.Smith | 1 1/3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Tri-City | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Headean W, 2-0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Zimmerman H, 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Stillman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Miller | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
WP—Higuera, Smoral 2, Noyalis. HBP—By Headean (Woodman). Umpires—H, Codey Davis; F, Zachary Dodson. T—2:53. A—1,632.
Dustin Brennan: 509-582-1413, @Tweet_By_Dustin
This story was originally published June 30, 2016 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Dust Devils notebook: Tri-City learning from baserunning errors."