Weekly Top Five: June 1-June 7

#5: Crush Beat the Hops

June 3: Carolina 8, San Diego 3. The Crush are dealt a severe blow when starter Ángel Galindo, winner of 14 games a year ago, has to leave the game in the first inning. Shoulder inflammation will keep him out for three to four months. However, six Crush relievers combine to shutout the Hops for eight innings.

Carolina takes a lead, 3-0, into the bottom of the ninth, but San Diego comes back. With two outs and two on, pinch-hitter Dwayne Sparks doubles in a run. The next batter, Mike Johnson, singles in two to tie the game.

The Crush strike back with five runs in the 10th. Joe Cote doubles in two runs, Scott Andrews singles in two more, and George Gilliam singles in a fifth.

#4: San Francisco Going Greene

Allen Greene

June 3: Las Vegas 4, San Francisco 11. The Quakes acquired Allen Greene from Nottinghamshire this off-season, and he has proven to be a valuable addition to the club. A corner outfielder with a good glove, Greene also has strong on-base skills, and these have been put to good use at the top of San Francisco's lineup.

Tonight, he leads off the third with a single and later scores the first Joker run. In the fourth, he singles in a run and scores on an Austin McCabe single. In the fifth, he singles in another run. In the seventh, he triples in two runs and scores. In total, he goes 4-for-4 with three runs scored and four runs batted in. On the season, he is now batting .323 with an .851 OPS.

#3: Divisional Battle

Lorenzo
Rodríguez

June 5: Ann Arbor 11, Dallas 5. The Barn Owls score eight runs in the fifth inning. Lorenzo Rodríguez leads off the inning with a single. The inning proceeds single, walk, walk (scoring Z-Rod), ground out (2),  ground out (3), double (4), and single (5). Z-Rod comes to the plate for a second time and caps the inning with a three-run home run.

June 6: Ann Arbor 0, Dallas 1. The Barn Owls should have saved some of their scoring from yesterday for today. Rich Bussell (7-4) and three Texan relievers combine to shut out Ann Arbor. It's no easy shutout, as the Barn Owls leave men on base in most innings—including leaving the bases loaded in both the first and third, runners on the corners in the seventh, and runners on first and second in the ninth.

The Texans score the game's only run on a walk, error, and single. Unlucky Wayne Connolly (0-5) gets a loss despite not allowing any earned runs to score.

June 7: Ann Arbor 2, Dallas 0. Michael Bryan (6-3) and three relievers combine to shut out the Texans, and the Barn Owls win the series. Dallas's Rafael López (2-7) pitches a two-hit complete game but gets the loss. Roberto Guzmán hits a solo home run. The second run scores on two walks and an error.

#2: Salgado Drives In Six 

Salvador
Salgado

June 2: Seattle 10, Montreal 6. Over the past three seasons, Salvador Salgado has been perhaps the best third baseman in baseball: his career slash line entering this season was .309/.400/.539. This year, he hasn't looked like his former self. He comes into this game batting only .223 with four home runs.

This evening, the old Salgado came to play. He singles in two runs in the first. He hits a sac fly in the third. He leads off the fifth with a home run. He singles in the seventh. In the eighth, with the bases loaded, he singles again, driving in two runs. All told, he goes 4-for-4 with six runs batted in, and leads Seattle to a victory over rival Montreal.

#1: Warner Blanks the Berserkers

Evan Warner

June 3: Minnesota 0, So Cal 6. Evan Warner (6-3) shuts out the Berserkers. He allows six singles and two walks. Oddly, the second is his only 1-2-3 inning as, in every other inning, he allows either one single or one walk each inning. He strikes out six.

After being traded to the Republic midway through last season, Warner disappointed, going 7-8 with a 4.52 ERA. This season, Warner has benefitted from So Cal's much-improved defense. His 3.03 ERA and 1.11 WHIP both rank among the league leaders.