Living dangerously
Butler manager Anthony Rebyanski knew it was only a matter of time before his team ended its losing streak.
He took comfort that his team never let up along the way, which showed in Tuesday's 5-2 victory over the Richmond River Rats at Pullman Park.
The BlueSox, who had entered the game on a six-game skid, shook off trouble in nearly every inning as Richmond stranded 13 runners.
“It's definitely a big relief,” Rebyanski said. “The guys kept fighting. Even through the losing streak, we were banging the ball, fighting in every single at-bat, every pitch.”
Early on, it was Richmond hitting the ball, smacking three hits in each of the first two innings and eighth through three innings, but it stranded five runners and had just two runs.
A two-out RBI single by Ryan Skellie opened the scoring in the first inning and Butler countered with a run of its own when Jason Radwan grounded into a fielder's choice to Stephen Vranka.
In the second, the River Rats received one-out singles by Kevin Franchetti and Josh Denny before Jordan Grilliot had an RBI double.
A suicide squeeze attempt failed when Butler starter David Kaye fielded a Kyle Bischoff attempt and catcher Jacob Reese applied the tag.
Then a diving catch by Brian Lares off a drive by Nolan early ended the threat.
Butler took the lead for good in the third inning when Matt Berezo started things off with an infield single. In a pickoff attempt, Berezo broke for second but the throwing error from first base allowed him to go to third.
He scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. One out later, Radwan singled and advanced to second on a fielder's choice.
After Reese reached on an error to put runners at first and third, the BlueSox executed a delayed steal, which allowed Radwan to score before Reese was tagged out.
“It was nice to see those bloop hits or shattered bat hits not fall in for them,” Rebyanski said. “That's happened a lot to us when they've had guys on base. Those ground balls, pop flies, that keeps them from getting momentum.”Richmond had two runners on and one out in the fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings, but Butler managed to escape, including double plays in the sixth and ninth innings, the latter with a runner forced out at second and the final out on a tag at third base.Butler had tacked on insurance runs in the fifth inning on a fly ball triple by Radwan lost in the sun by Skellie in right field and another in the eighth on a run-scoring single, also by Radwan.The Bluesox are hopeful this win is what they needed to right the ship. The team had started the season winning three of four games before the losing streak.“I think we have the offense that can hit,” Rebyanski said. “We've been shot down by some great pitching. Our pitchers have been keeping us in games.”<B>Richmond 110 000 000 — 2 10 3Butler 102 010 10 — 5 10 1</B>W: David Kaye 5.1 IP (3K, 3BB). <B>L:</B> Drew Mitrisin 7 IP (5K, 1BB).<B>Richmond (6-5):</B> Jordan Grilliot 2B, RBI; Nolan Early 1B; Ryan Skellie 2-1B, RBI; Rob McPike 1B, 2B; Nick Brennen 1B; Kevin Franchetti 2-1B; Josh Denny 1B<B>Butler (4-7):</B> Stephen Vranka 1B; Matt Berezo 2-1B; Shayne Houck 2-2B; Jason Radwan 2-1B, 3B, 3 RBI; Jon Danielczyk 2-1B<B>Today:</B> Richmond at Butler, 6:35 p.m.<B><I><U></B></U></I>
