[ArquimedezPozo]

Castrovinci, Rison, Matthews Lead the Way in Sun Kings Rout of Whales

Brian Castrovinci is making his final case for MVP, and it is a good one. The young El Paso star went 3-4 with a grand slam as part of a 5 RBI effort, and David Matthews went the distance as the Sun Kings downed the Whales 10-0.

With Jeff Martin on the mound for Chicago, the conditions were ripe for a big El Paso night: Martin has struggled all season, with a low K rate, high walk rate, and a .309 BABIP to boot. He worked around a Joe Rison leadoff double in the first, but El Paso drew blood in the second when Tom Knighton doubled and scored on a Chris Beardsley single.

Matthews, too, allowed doubles in the first and second, but stranded them both. In the third, he worked around two singles, and finally got his first clean inning in the fourth, preserving the Sun Kings’ 1-0 lead.

That lead grew in the fifth. Joe Rison tripled to open the inning, and after a Jesus Hernandez walk, Castrovinci did his first damage of the game with an RBI single. A wild pitch during Mike Kepler’s AB sent Castrovinci to second, and walks to Kepler and Ralph Carter advanced him further. With the bases now loaded, Tom Knighton grounded slowly up the middle; it was enough to score the 24 year old 1B to give his club a 3-0 lead.

Another squandered double in the bottom of the inning was frustrating for Chicago, as Matthews continued to work into and out of danger. The game slipped a bit further in the top of the sixth, as El Paso got into a two-out hole but held on, working three straight walks to Rison, Hernandez, and Castrovinci. That last ended Jeff Martin’s night, but reliever Tim Potter didn’t do better, working Kepler to a full count before putting him on as well, forcing in Rison. He escaped further damage getting Ralph Carter to fly to center, but the difference between a three run deficit and a four run deficit loomed large.

Matthews was efficient in his half of the sixth, getting three fly ball outs in nine pitches.

His offense made the rest academic in the top of the seventh. Walks to Knighton and Troxell (the eighth and ninth of the ten handed out by Chicago) brought up Chris Beardsley, who singled Knighton home for the fifth El Paso run. Izzy Villanueva flew to shallow left, but Joe Rison continued his outstanding game by stroking his second double, this one scoring Troxell and putting Beardsley on third. Jesus Hernandez collected El Paso’s tenth and final walk of the night, which brought Brian Castrovinci to the plate.

The Ohio native had seemed like an ironclad MVP lock in his second season, but hit the skids in August, hitting “just” .232/.356/.475 - above average production division-wide, but far below his season standard. But he had rebounded in the first several games of September, and came to the plate with the bases full and his confidence high. He took ball one, and then got a fastball that was meant for the outside corner. It didn’t miss by much, but it missed by enough: the lefty Castrovinci reached out and drilled it on a line into left, where it cleared the fence for an opposite field grand slam to put his club up 10-0.

The rest of the game unfolded quietly, as Matthews allowed solitary hits in the 8th and 9th but nothing else. El Paso, too, went quietly: Castrovinci’s trot around the bases in the seventh represented their last offensive output of the night. It was, of course, more than enough: El Paso extended its lead on the West, while Chicago, already eliminated, simply cast another game into their lost season.