PCL: Isotopes run past Cubs
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7/14/2008 - 7/15/08
ALBUQUERQUE — Alberto Concepcion started the game in the bullpen.
Dean Treanor knew he wouldn't stay there.
"I like him at the plate," Treanor said.
The Iowa Cubs do not.
At least, they didn't Monday afternoon at Isotopes Park.
Concepcion entered the game on a double-switch in the top of the seventh. He was the first Isotope to bat in the bottom half of the inning.
Concepcion singled.
He also tripled.
Before the Cubs recorded the final out, Albuquerque sent 12 batters to the plate and scored nine runs.
That one inning proved to be the difference in a 14-8 Pacific Coast League baseball victory, a second straight for the Isotopes, who had lost six in a row of 14 of 16.
"I knew that spot was going to come back around again," Treanor said.
The Albuquerque manager wasn't referring to the seventh.
Concepcion stepped to the plate in the eighth.
He singled.
This time, two runners scored.
In three at-bats, Concepcion singled twice, tripled and drove in three runs.
Nice switch, Skip.
The starters did their share.
John Gall and Tommy Murphy each slugged two-run home runs, while Jason Wood added a two-run single. Seven on the nine starters had at least one hit. Gall finished with three, as did Andrew Beattie.
The nine-run seventh made a winner of reliever Brandon Villafuerte (4-2), who pitched two-thirds of an inning. Randy Wells (7-4), who was responsible for seven of the nine runs in the seventh, suffered the loss.
"The last two days we got back to who we are," Treanor said. "We were very aggressive and we got big, key hits."
Iowa committed two errors.
Both came in the seventh.
The first, a throwing error by third baseman Casey McGehee, allowed Murphy to reach first off a sacrifice bunt. The second, coming in a rundown, allowed two runners to score when McGehee failed to catch a ball.
"We forced them to make some plays in that one inning, and they didn't make a couple plays," Treanor said. "We kind of got away of forcing the game to the other team. It was good to see those things happen today."
Albuquerque (42-56) and the rest of the PCL have the next three days off for the Triple-A All-Star break. The Isotopes resume play Friday in New Orleans.
Albuquerque is in last place in the American Southern Division. Oklahoma sits atop, followed by New Orleans and Round Rock.
"The key to this is we have to win in our division, and we haven't," Treanor said of a possible second-half run. "We're capable of doing that, if we play like we have the last two games."