MCM vs TCT Game 4: SCOOOOOOORE!

There was joy in Terribles Nation today.  In their first game of the Monsters home series and the fourth overall game of the season, they scored.

It came on a one out, two-run homerun by ‘67 Johnny Bench in the seventh inning of Game 4 of the Monsters vs. Terribles series.  ‘64 Joe Morgan who walked prior to Bench’s dinger, can lay claim to the first Terribles batter to touch home plate.  Bench was right behind him.

The Monsters still clobbered the the Terribles by the score of 26-2.  Helped by the offense of ‘21 Babe Ruth and ‘22 Rogers Hornsby who combined to go 9 for 13 with five homeruns and 16 rbis.

After Bench’s homer off ‘68 Bob Gibson, Monsters coaching staff decided to go to the pen with the score so close.  With a slight 19-2 lead, they brought in ‘71Ferguson Jenkins to prevent any more damage.  Fergie was instrumental in getting the Monsters out of their jam.  He struck out both ‘11 Adam Dunn and ‘66 Johnny Herrnstein to get the job done.  Smokey Joe Wood pitched two scoreless innings to close out the game.

WP- ‘68 Gibson (1-0), LP- ‘65 Fisher (0-1) HR- ‘22 Hornsby 2 (2), ‘21 Ruth 3 (GS, 4), ‘67 Bench (1)

Monsters Highlights:  ‘21 Babe Ruth went 5 for 6 with three HR and nine rbis.  He now leads both teams with rbis with 15… ‘22 Rogers Hornsby was 4 for 7 with two HR and seven rbis.

Terribles Highlights:  ‘67 Johnny Bench was 1 for 4 with a two-run homer. Did I mention that?  ‘64 Joe Morgan walked and scored a run.  Both ‘78 Mike Fischlin and ‘11 Adam Dunn walked.

Around the dugout

‘22 Rogers Hornsby isn’t saying anything but some say his performance in Game 4 is partially in response to ‘11 Ty Cobb needling him about his offense so far in the short season.  It certainly helped. His rbi production quadrupled and his batting average went up to 100 points in one game.  As for Cobb, he still leads all players with 13 hits through four games and loves telling his teammates that.

There’s a battle going on for the Monsters’ left field spot in the lineup.  ‘30 Al Simmons started the first two games and went 3 for 10.  Then Monsters’ management abruptly decided to go with ‘41 Ted Williams for the next two games and he really flourished.  He already has six hits and six rbis in Games 3 and 4.

Are the Terribles pitching coaches avoiding ‘07 Dontrelle Willis?  Some might think so after his two outings.  In three innings, Willis has given up fourteen runs and walked seven batters.  He denies any issues and hopes to get back in action soon.

Next up

Game 5 will have ‘63 Jim Duckworth (0-1, 7.50 ERA) making his second start of the season.  The Monsters have ‘13 Walter Johnson on hill for his first time this season.