Baseball

The Blues needed to have a short memory and find a way to flush what was one of the word games they've played during this 2018 summer season.

On Monday against the Pittsfield Suns the Blues committed five errors to go along with surrendering 12 walks en route to a 10-3 beat down.

Manager Ronnie Palmer expected better from his troops whom had poor performances.

" I think it was one of those days. The tough part for me is it's been our past two home games that we've played like this. We certainly need to put a better effort, not just for ourselves, but the fans who come out and watch us play."

Then came the following day, less than 24 hours after the crushing loss. The Blues faced off against the Worcester Bravehearts having beat them twice before 3-1 and 6-5.

However, this came started off a little rocky. Bristol managed to score a run in bottom of the first after a leadoff walk by Ostberg(stolen base of second), 2 chopper from Richard Brereton that advanced Ostberg to third and a RBI groundout to the first baseman from Matt Bonvicini.

Things looked like they might be on the up and up early. I mean Blues score first, the at-bats looked crisp. What could go wrong right?

Well, the shut down inning is what was needed after Bristol scored the lone run in the bottom of the 1st. Blues starter Jason Hebner had problems with his command, particularly the breaking ball.

You combine that with the top of the 2nd starting with an error by Shortstop Ryan Lutz and it turned quickly from a 1-0 game to a 3-1 game in favor of the Bravehearts.

Hebner, however, managed to recover and grind through a tough 5 innings-4 hits- 3 runs-1 earned-4 walks-1 strikeout.

Both teams would trade zero's for next 5 and half innings, until the Blues have their opportunities in the bottom of the 6th. In that inning alone the Blues sent 9 batters to the plate and put up 4 runs on 5 hits. The big contributions came from the bottom of the order. I'm talking Cooper Mrowka,Giacomo Brancato, Teddy Hague,  Miguel De Los Santos, Lutz, who together made the Blues offense go.

What I mean is before this game, the bottom half of the order (6-9) combined for a .230 average with no XBH's, and 1 RBI. Bristol got double that in one inning, scoring 4 runs, 5 hits, 2 RBI's from that part of the batting order.

From that point on, Bristol cruised through 7th and the 8th with both Kyle Haag and Jake Regula having clean performances on the mound. Each showing off the kind of offspeed pitches they offer, as Haag had the dancing changeup working.

Regula showed above average velocity from the right side while breaking off a couple nice curveballs with good height and bite.

With Bristol up 5-3 going into the 9th, that only means one thing. It's Neal Mcdermott time!

The righty from Seton Hill in classic style went 1-2-3 to finish off the Bravehearts for his 6th save of the season.

More importantly, beyond the fact they are 9-3 overall, this game was a nice bounce back after the night they have previously.

Bristol returns home today for their final game of the 3 game home stand as they play the Martha's Vineyard Sharks. Game time 7pm.