Unless it’s to make a pitching change, Chip Hale doesn’t visit the mound very often. He made an exception in the top of the fourth inning of Arizona’s game against Arizona State on Saturday at Hi Corbett Field.
Hale’s Wildcats had just misplayed a grounder to first, thrown yet another wild pitch and hit a batter. It was already 4-0 in favor of ASU. Hale was trying to apply a tourniquet.
He couldn’t stop the bleeding.
The Sun Devils scored two more runs in the inning en route to an 8-5 victory that evened the weekend series against the Wildcats. The deciding game is slated for noon Sunday.
Asked afterward to provide the gist of the mound meeting, Hale said: “Just unacceptable play. ... You don't cover first (quickly enough after) making a great pitch against a good hitter. You allow that guy to get on base, which now causes all sorts of stuff to happen.
“We're throwing the ball off of people. It's just sloppy baseball, and it's just not acceptable. They know that, and I felt like it was time to send a message.”
Saturday’s game was played in front of a season-high crowd of 6,617. The home side didn’t give the fans much to cheer about.
Arizona never got closer than three runs after falling behind 6-0. The Wildcats also committed a pair of errors.
Now Arizona needs to win to avoid dropping a third straight Pac-12 series.
UA outfielder Tanner O’Tremba, for one, is looking forward to the quick turnaround and the opportunity that awaits.
“It's Sunday. It's just, ‘Hey, let's go,’ ” O’Tremba said. “No matter what, win or lose (the night before), ‘Hey, let's go. Let's piece it together. Let’s win the series.’ ”
After Hale’s trip to the mound, ASU’s Joe Lampe took an unusual path to the plate: He scored from second base on a fly ball to deep right-center field. Mac Bingham tracked down Conor Davis’ drive just in front of the wall. Lampe took off immediately and never stopped, beating the relay throw home. Ryan Campos’ RBI single made it 6-0.
“We did everything you could do possible,” Hale said of Lampe’s dash home from second. “It was just a great baserunning play by them and great preparation. They know it's a big ballpark. And that guy just flies. That's one of his great tools.”
The two runs in the fourth came off freshman left-hander Eric Orloff, who relieved Chandler Murphy to start the inning. Murphy allowed four runs on six hits in three inning – the latest in a string of underwhelming performances by UA weekend starters.
Arizona hasn’t notched a quality start – six-plus innings with three or fewer earned runs – since Garrett Irvin yielded two earned runs in six innings on April 9 vs. Washington. Irvin, who’s scheduled to start Sunday, allowed four total runs during that outing.
“It hasn’t been great,” Hale said of Arizona’s starting pitching. “We’ve been battling. Guys have been doing a good job out of the pen to keep us in the game. There’s definitely concern. We need a good outing by Garrett tomorrow.”
Murphy, who missed the beginning of the season while rehabbing an arm injury, delivered a gem on April 10, throwing five shutout innings. He has struggled since, yielding 12 earned runs in 5 2/3 innings in his past two appearances. His ERA has ballooned to 9.50.
ASU came into Saturday with the highest ERA (6.27) in the Pac-12. It was even worse in conference play (7.96).
The Wildcats scored seven runs in Friday’s come-from-behind, walk-off win. They couldn’t generate much offense against Sun Devils starter Kyle Luckham, who consistently kept them off-balance.
Among outs put in play against Luckham, 11 were grounders and only one was a fly ball (a popup to first base). In all, 18 of Arizona’s 19 outs in play were grounders.
“He did a really good job of sinking the ball down and in on righties,” Hale said.
“You can try to elevate the ball a little bit, but he was throwing strikes with it and getting ahead. So you're sort of at his mercy at that point.”
Luckham — ASU’s most effective starter entering Saturday with a 4.38 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP — blanked Arizona through four innings. The Wildcats finally got to him in the fifth, plating three runs to halve their deficit. The rally included an RBI double by Friday’s hero, Chase Davis, and an RBI single by Bingham, who fouled off four two-strike pitches before bounding a ball into center field.
But ASU scored twice in the seventh — both charged to Orloff — to make it 8-3. O’Tremba’s solo home run to center made it 8-4. O’Tremba went 4 for 5 and now leads Arizona with a .373 average.
Garen Caulfield’s RBI triple trimmed the lead to 8-5 in the bottom of the eighth. But Nik McClaughry struck out to end the inning, stranding Caulfield at third. McClaughry, who entered Saturday with a 10-game hitting streak, went 0 for 5 with a career-high four strikeouts.
Despite the loss, Arizona (27-13, 12-8 Pac-12) still has a chance to win the weekend and split the season series with ASU (20-20, 9-8).
“You want to win two out of three,” Hale said. “Like we talked about from the start, we try to take every game individually. So tomorrow we'll start from scratch, get ourselves together, get our pitching straight, and hopefully Garrett can give us five or six innings of competitive baseball. That would help us a lot.”
Inside pitch
- Cameron LaLiberte made his second straight start at DH and went 2 for 4. He’s 5 for 9 in the series and is batting .500 (10 for 20).
- Reliever Jonathan Guardado threw two hitless innings. He hasn't allowed an earned run in his past four appearances, spanning 5 2/3 innings.
- ASU’s Ethan Long was scratched from the lineup during pregame warmups because of a sore left wrist. He did warm up in the bullpen late in the game.
- The Sun Devils are expected to start veteran right-hander Boyd Vander Kooi (1-0, 4.09 ERA) on Sunday. Irvin’s start was pushed back a day after he experienced arm soreness last week at Utah.
