Around the ABL: May 28-June 17

It's another jumbo-sized Around the ABL as we have three weeks of baseball to cover. And there is a lot to talk about! Who became the first ABL player ever to hit three home runs in one game? Who pitched three games and over 26 innings of shutout baseball? How awesome was Danny Burris over his 26-game hitting streak? Which league was better in the second round of interleague matchups?

Notes

• Las Vegas had one the season's better comebacks when they played Eureka on May 29. Trailing by three runs in the ninth, a pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases. Colin St. John doubled off the center field wall, driving in three to tie the game. A walk and a single later, and José Ortíz came up with the sacks full: he walked, putting the Jokers ahead for good. St. John won the TML Player of the Month for May: in 108 at bats, he scored 30 runs and hit .389 with 6 doubles, 2 triples, 9 home runs, and 26 RBI.
• Boston's Norm Jackson finally lost a game. After winning his first nine decisions, on May 30 Los Angeles tagged him for five runs on nine hits. Cheers still won the TML Pitcher of the Month for May. He went 5-1 with a 1.96 ERA: in 46 innings, he allowed 33 hits and 8 walks while striking out 43.
• Mile High's visit to Kansas City included a tense pitching duel with a dramatic ending. Mustangs ace Manuel Ruíz and the Tornadoes' Fabrizio Palgani each gave up only one run, but Ruíz had to be pulled in the seventh while Palgani completed the full nine. With the game tied at one in the bottom of the ninth, Freddy Castillo homered to win the game for Kansas City in walk-off style.
• On June 3 against Los Angeles, Seattle was down by two runs in the ninth inning. After two quick outs, the bottom of the order came up. A single and a double put two runners on, and Dane Moore singled them in to tie the game. Salvador Salgado then doubled in Moore, and Seattle won 8-7.
• On June 5, Montgomery's Juan Ramírez went four for four with a double and two homers as the Mountain Cats tagged Boston's Norm Jackson for eight runs. Incredibly, Boston won. Down 9-7 in the ninth, the Cardinals scored three runs, with George White singling in John White for the deciding run.
• Montgomery, by the way, is 12-4 in June and has quietly snuck back into the division race, trailing Seattle by 2.5 games. Since going 20-5 in April, the Sasquatch actually have a losing record, going 22-23.
• The preseason favorites, Boston and Seattle, met for their only series of the year. The Cardinals swept the Sasquatch. The second game of the series was notable. Tied at four, the game went into extra innings. Seattle scored twice in the top of the 15th, but Boston's Dave Lane hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning. In the 17th, Boston's Ed White came to the plate with runners on first and second and two outs. After falling behind in the count, White proceeded to foul off pitch after pitch, working the count full. On the 10th pitch of the at-bat, he singled to left, driving in the runner on second for the walk-off win. Strange game fact: Seattle's Artie Carlson went one for eight—with seven strikeouts. Ouch.
• No team is hotter than the San Francisco Earthquakes, who are 15-1 in June. The one loss? On June 13, they lost by the skin of their teeth to (would you believe it?) Nottinghamshire, the team with the league's record. The game went to extra innings, and the Outlaws scored two in the top half of the 11th. The Quakes loaded the bases and scored a run in the bottom half of the inning—looking for all the world as if they would escape with yet another dramatic win. But Oliver Bower struck out Wayne Massingham to end the game.
• Did I say "another dramatic win"? Seven of the Earthquakes' wins this month have been by one run. They beat Dallas by the score of 2-1 in back-to-back games: on June 6, Ray Lester out-dueled Rich Bussell; on June 7, Gary Hunter hit a dramatic two-run home run in the eighth to win the other. On June 10, they trailed New York 7-4 when, with two outs in the eighth,  Eric Ware hit a grand slam: the Quakes won, 8-7. But the most dramatic victory came on June 14, when division-rival Maple came to town. The teams were tied at three after nine innings. No runs were scored until the top of the 18th, when Maple's Kevin Gibson singled home Tom Hunter. In the bottom half of the 18th, the Quakes had two outs and a runner on first when Artie Sanders doubled in the tying run and Ignacio Villareal singled in Sanders to win it.
• The Thurmon Munson League once again proved itself the stronger league, going 80-64 against the Roberto Clemente League. The TML now leads the RCL in interleague 158-130 for the season. All three TML divisions won their matchups against their RCL counterparts: Tommy Lasorda 22, Billy Martin 26; Tony La Russa 23, Sparky Anderson 25; Bobby Cox 19, Earl Weaver 29. 

Top Performances

• San Diego's Miguel Angel Ortíz hit three home runs in a single game—the first ABL player to do so. On May 30 in Greenville, Ortíz went three for four. He hit a solo shot in the first, a three-run homer in the second, and another solo shot in the seventh. Not only were all three were to straight-away left field, but all three landed in the same section of the bleachers. "It was déjà vu all over again," said Greenville starter Ratko Mladjenovic about the second blast. "I thought I was watching a replay."
• Montreal's Raúl Pérez pitched a superb trio of games. On May 30, he shut out the powerful Minnesota bats for 7 2/3 innings. On June 5, he held Las Vegas scoreless for 8 2/3. On June 10, he went eight run-free innings against Eureka, striking out 11. Pérez finally allowed a run in the third inning of his next game against Greenville. "Sheep" is 11-3 on the year with a 2.62 ERA.
• Minnesota's Jim Brady got nine runs of support. He only needed one. Against division-rival Montreal on May 31, Brady pitched a complete game shut out, allowing only five hits and a walk while striking out five. Big Jim has been the ace of the Berserker staff, going 7-3 with a 3.82 this year.
• New York's Joe Herman went a perfect five for five against Jersey on May 30. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to beat the Jesters, who won the game 2-1 in extra innings. Herman drove in the Mafia's only run when he doubled in the third, but he was stranded in scoring position four times. The Mafia beat the Jesters in the other two games of the series in the rivals' only meeting this season.
• Kansas City's Jayson O'Neill had his hit streak snapped at 21 games. Minnesota held him hitless in four at-bats. O'Neill won the TML Rookie of the Month for May: he batted .355, and hit four home runs while driving in 27.
• Ho-hum. Maurice Gould set the ABL mark for most strikeouts in a game on June 1 when he fanned 14 Hornets over 8 1/3 innings. Only two starts later on June 12, he tied that record: this time he struck out 14 Bobcats over a mere six innings. Doughboy has reached double-digit numbers in strikeouts in eight of his 15 starts this season.
• On June 12, Danny Burris went 0 for 4 against San Francisco, snapping his record 26-game hitting streak. As impressive as this hit streak was, it doesn't really do Burris justice. Since the beginning of May, Burris has played 44 games and gotten a hit in all but three. He won Rookie of the Month in May, going 51 for 124 for a .411 average, but he's been even better in June, going 30 for 66 for a .455 average. Burris is only 23 years old, and we fully expect him to have a 30-game hit streak at some point in his career.
• Eureka's Ed Gillespie threw one of the best games of the year against Kansas City on June 15. He pitched eight shutout innings, allowing only two base runners (a hit-by-pitch in the first and a single to Freddy Castillo in the second) and striking out seven. Claude Knight's two solo home runs were all the Hornets needed to win.
• Z-Rod was being his usual self on June 11 against South Carolina. In five plate appearances, he had a walk, two singles, and two home runs. He scored twice and drove in five. He won the RCL Player of the Week for the second time this season. His line from June 10-16: 25 AB, 14 H, 8 R, 2 D, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 3 BB. That works out to a slash line of .560/.607/1.000, and it brought his batting average (which had sunk as low as .376) back to .400.
• Nevertheless, on June 13 Cecil Gibbons managed to shut out Z-Rod and the Barn Owls. South Carolina's right-hander finished the full nine innings on only 96 pitches, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out six. Gibbons has had an up-and-down season: his record is 5-5 over 12 starts with a 4.56 ERA. The kicker? He's just 20 years old. We'll be seeing more of him.
• Greenville's Brian O'Keggan pitched his best game of the season against Mile High on June 6. He shut out the Mustangs on two hits, walking four and fanning four. 
• Seattle's Salvador Salgado had a perfect day at the plate against So Cal on June 15. In seven plate appearances, he hit two home runs, two singles, and drew three walks—in fact, he led off the ninth with a solo home run, then singled later in the inning. The Sasquatch scored nine runs in the ninth and beat the Republic 16 to 3.

Awards

• May Batters of the Month were Dale Watson in the RCL and Colin St. John in the TML. Minnesota's Watson hit .343 with 10 home runs and 31 RBI. He also scored 26 times. The designated hitter is in his contract year. Colin St. John of Las Vegas hit .389 with nine home runs, 26 RBI, and 30 runs.
• TML Pitcher of the Month went to Boston's Norm Jackson (mentioned above). In the RCL, the award went to Ann Arbor's Tony Ross, who won all six of his May starts. In 45 2/3 innings, he posted a 2.17 ERA while striking out 28 and walking 13.
• As mentioned above, two youngsters with 20+ game hitting streaks won May Rookie of the Month: Danny Burris in the RCL, and Jayson O'Neill in the TML.
• We have three Players of the Week in each league to cover. In the RCL, Brandon Farmer, Tom Becker, and Lorenzo Rodriguez won the award. We covered Z-Rod above. Dallas's Farmer had 14 hits in 31 at-bats for a .452 average, hitting two home runs and driving in 13. Montreal's Becker has been having an outstanding season, and in his week he went 12 for 23 with four home runs, driving in six and scoring five times. On the season, Horseface is batting .382 with 22 home runs.
• In the TML, Eduardo Gómez, Carlos Martínez, and Bob Watkins. Eureka's Gómez hit better than .500 for his week: in 23 at-bats, he third baseman had 12 hits, 1 home run, and 8 RBI. Cabo's Martínez started the season slowly, but he has picked things up of late. On the week he went 9 for 17 with two home runs, driving in six. Kansas City center-fielder Watkins went 11 for 26 with a pair of home runs. He drove in five and scored seven times.