Thursday's starters Chance Chapman of Lakewood and Madison Bumgarner of Augusta were both selected in the 2007 Major League Baseball First Year Players Draft, and the similarities end there.
Bumgarner, a first-round pick of the San Francisco Giants, has taken the South Atlantic League by storm as an 18-year-old. Entering Thursday night's game against the BlueClaws, the left-hander from North Carolina was 8-2 with a 1.77 ERA and 91 strikeouts to just 15 walks in 81 1/3 innings.
Chapman was an eighth-round selection of the Phillies out of Oral Roberts University and while he has been one of Lakewood's most reliable arms, the 24-year-old has not generated the kind of buzz among scouts and players that Bumgarner has.
Thursday at FirstEnergy Park, the college right-hander upstaged the phenom left-hander and pitched the BlueClaws past the GreenJackets 3-2, giving Lakewood the four-game series three games to one.
Chapman pitched 8ลก innings and allowed two runs on seven hits, while striking out seven. Chapman walked two batters in the first inning, but did not walk any the rest of the way.
"I guess it was just a case of the jitters,'' Chapman said of the first inning. "This was a big game for us and I guess I was trying to be too fine. After that I got pretty mad at myself and was able to throw my game.''
After recording the first two outs of the ninth inning, Chapman (6-5) surrendered a single to Augusta clean-up hitter Angel Villalona. Manager Steve Roadcap visited the mound to have a word with his starter before letting him continue. Chapman surrendered a single to Thomas Neal on a 2-2 fastball, then left to an ovation from the 6,552 in attendence.
"He told me he had him (Neal) and he lied to me,'' Roadcap joked.
Jared Simon gave up an RBI single to Andrew Davis to make it 3-2, but struck out Nestor Rojas to end the game and earn his 17th save.
Bumgarner (8-3) allowed three earned runs in seven innings while striking out two in his first road loss of the season.
The BlueClaws (13-8, 51-40) took the lead in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by T.J. Warren. Travis Mattair led off the inning with a single that fell in front of left fielder Garrett Baker. Bumgarner appeared to have him picked off at first, but first baseman Angel Villalona slipped, allowing Mattair to reach second with a stolen base. Mattair advanced to third on a Freddy Galvis sacrifice bunt and scored on Warren's single to right over a drawn-in infield.
Designated hitter Dennis Winn gave the BlueClaws an insurance run with an RBI single in the sixth that plated catcher Tim Kennelly, who finished 1-for-2 with a run, an RBI and a walk.
"He had a pretty good fastball,'' Kennelly said of Bumgarner. "We just wanted to swing at strikes. When a pitcher is that good, you're not going to get too many hits, but the idea is to make him throw strikes and put the ball in play.''
Lakewood broke through on Bumgarner in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI single by Kennelly. Galvis ripped a one-out single past the third baseman, Davis, who made a diving stop to rob Mattair of a single one batter earlier. Warren followed with a slow ground ball that stayed fair along the third-base line and stopped in front of Bumgarner and Davis. Two batters later, Kennelley hit a sharp ground ball just to the right of shortstop Charlie Culberson to score Galvis from second.
Augusta (14-7, 55-35) answered in the next inning with an RBI single by Davis to score Garrett Baker. Chapman stranded runners on second and third when Dominic Brown caught Rojas' long fly ball for the second out, hit the cutoff man, Galvis, who threw out Villalona trying to tag from second to third.
"I told Chapman before the game that it's all about pitching and defense,'' Roadcap said. "Once he got past that first inning, he threw strikes, got ahead and let his defense work and they did the job behind him.''
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
