NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks centre fielder Brody Gardner celebrates his two-run double in the seventh inning of the Mavs 10-7 win Tuesday night at Athletic Park against the Moose Jaw Miller Express.
The Medicine Hat Mavericks head into an off day Wednesday on a very high note.
The Mavs beat the Moose Jaw Miller Express 10-7 Tuesday night at Athletic Park, making two straight victories against Moose Jaw and four in a row. Medicine Hat beat the Miller Express 4-2 on Monday, their first game back from the two-day all-star break.
Head coach Kevin Mitchell was all smiles after the Mavs reached their longest winning streak of the season.
“It’s awesome that wins are happening at this time and two of these wins came against the team that we’re chasing, so the energy is great,” Mitchell said. “It hasn’t been anything super special, we’ve pitched really well, limited free passes, we’ve played solid defense and we’re putting the ball in play when we need to. That’s a pretty good recipe for wins.”
The Mavs drew seven walks and got on base through four hit by pitches while only walking two batters and one hit batter. Moose Jaw opened the scoring with a two-run top of the first inning before the Mavs answered back and scored six unanswered.
Medicine Hat got on the board in the first as centre fielder Brody Gardner scored on a wild pitch. They jumped ahead in the bottom of the second inning, scoring four runs while only notching one hit. The first two batters on the inning, first baseman Andrew Savage and right fielder Max Valdez were hit by a pitch. Valdez scored a batter later on a RBI double from shortstop Tyler Vanneste and Savage crossed the plate on a wild pitch a batter after that. Vanneste scored on a bases loaded walk from left fielder Ryan Dousett and the final run of the inning was plated on a sac hit from designated hitter Brady Bean.
After a scoreless third inning, the Mavs added a solo run on a sac fly from Bean, giving them their 6-1 lead. Moose Jaw scored in the top of the fifth to bring them within three and finalize Medicine Hat starter Garrett Nicholson’s stat line. The Sydney Mines, N.S. product picked up the win, striking out three batters while only allowing three runs on five hits and a walk in five innings pitched.
Nicholson says he worked to get the Moose Jaw hitters off balance early and carried that throughout the start.
“It was a little bit of everything, I pitched backwards right from pitch one, the first hit of the game was a changeup inside,” Nicholson said. “The changeup and slider worked really well and I just worked the fastball off of that. It was just about getting them off balance right away and it worked.”
Nicholas Spidel took the ball in the sixth inning and worked 2.2 innings while striking out two and only allowing one run on four hits. Matt Krall pitched the remaining 1.1 innings and had two strikeouts while allowing three runs on three hits and a walk.
The Mavs opened the game up with a three-run seven inning, which came on the back of a two-run double from Gardner. Two batters before that, second baseman Johnny Vulcano drove in a run with a RBI single. Medicine Hat added their 10th and final run in the bottom of the eighth, a fielders choice play off the bat of Vanneste allowed Valdez to score.
Mitchell had a couple players stand out on the night and it started with Valdez, who he was happy to see get rewarded with a two-hit day
“Valdez continued to swing it well, he got a little bloop single today that he so so deserved after all the line drives he’s hit,” Mitchell said. “Brody Gardner played a great centre field tonight, he also had a huge two-run doubled that opened it up for us, that was big. And then Johnny again, defensively he’s everywhere diving for balls, whether he has to or not, just doing everything he can to keep it in the infield. That stuff is contagious when guys are going that hard after baseballs.”
The Mavs (20-22) are off Wednesday before they head to Brooks on Thursday to face the Bombers. That contest opens up a five-game road set for the Mavs across six days. Their next home game is July 26 against the Fort McMurray Giants.
