With interleague play kicking off this week we got the chance to see some more Aussie vs Aussie matchup action, as the only two Aussies in the majors - Justin Huber and Ryan Rowland-Smith - met in Seattle.
On Saturday (Friday in the States), Justin Huber and the Padres travelled to Safeco Field to open their 3 game series against the Mariners. We didnt see too much of Huber in the first game. He started on the bench, and came on as a pinch runner in the 9th inning.
We did though see more Ryan Rowland-Smith, who has pitched reasonably well in the last week or so. Mariners' starter Miguel Batista gave up three runs over 5 innings and then came out to start the 6th. He walked Scott Hairston and gave up a single to Jody Gerut, before drawing a force out of Gerut at second from Tadahito Iguchi. This left runners at the corners, with Padres left hander Brian Giles stepping up to the plate and lefty "sluggers" Adrian Gonzalez and Tony Clark in the hole. So it was time for RRS to get to work.
Rowland-Smith started throwing to Giles, and mixed in a few pickoff attempts at first base. Working to a 1-2 count, Rowland-Smith went to his curveball, which Giles managed to connect with to pick up a single to first base, scoring Hairston from third.
Adrian Gonzalez was up next, and he also hit to first. This time Richie Sexson managed to get to the ball and make a play at second for the second out. No more damage, but still with runners at the corners.
Tony Clark came ot swinging; hitting two fouls on the fisrt two pitches. RRS threw a ball for the third pitch and then drew a grounder to shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt who made the force out to two.
Rowland-Smith came out of the game in the next dig, after dealing with the leftys without too much damage. His line for the day, 0.2 innings pitched, 1 hit, 0 runs (Batista wore the Hairston run), 0 ks and 0 walks.
Fast forward to the 9th inning, and Tony Clark earns a walk. With the Padres up by 2, and keen to score a few more for a bit of a buffer, Justin Huber came into the game to run for Clark. Singles from Kevin Kouzmanoff and Khalil Greene advanced Huber to 3d, before Josh Bard hit the ball to Sexson at first, who made trhe force out at home to nab Huber.
In today's game (Sunday in the States), Justin Huber got the start against lefty Erik Bedard, who found some rhythm today and struck out plenty of Padres.
Huber played in left field and batted 9th. Huber wasnt involved in anything eventful in the field, but you can see some footage of him making a play in the bottom of the 1st on a Raul Ibanez double here. He took two catches off Kenji Johjima in the third and eighth innings. At the plate in the third inning he flew out to centrefield. In the fifth inning, Bedard got Huber swinging and missing at a curve. In the eighth, Bedard threw him three curveballs - 2 strikes and a ball, all 77mph - before upping the ante with a 92mph fastball outside to get Huber swinging.
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