Expand<\/a><\/p>\nAki Buckson\u2019s bat is adding fuel to San Rafael\u2019s midseason surge as the Pacifics ran the win streak to eight games Friday night.<\/p>\n
Following a three-homer night, Buckson went 3-for-6, reaching base four times and scoring three runs to help the Pacifics cruise past the visiting Sturgeon, 11-1, at Albert Park.<\/p>\n
The San Rafael Pacifics (19-6), nearing the midway point in the regular season, have the best record in the Pecos League, and hold a 5 1\/5-game lead over second-place Martinez (13-11) in the Pacific Division.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lineup we have hitting is good enough to win the whole thing,\u201d said Pacifics starter Alex Valasek, who helped anchor San Rafael\u2019s 2023 Pecos League championship team.<\/p>\n
Valasek, the Pacific Division Pitcher of the Year the past two seasons, struck out five batters and walked three through eight innings for his third win in five games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think our starters have been good, our bullpen guys have been good, we just need a little more bullpen depth,\u201d said the former College of Marin pitching coach.<\/p>\n
The Pacifics are getting some bullpen relief as veteran Josh Idell made his second appearance of the season Friday to close out the ninth inning. Idell, one of Valasek\u2019s former pitchers at COM, is coming back from offseason shoulder surgery, but looked solid as he faced four batters in the ninth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice having at least one inning to come back after surgery,\u201d Idell said. \u201cIt\u2019s good for the mental aspect. But we played a great game as a team. Aki Buckson is hot right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buckson, who leads the Pacific Division with seven home runs, hit three homers in San Rafael\u2019s 9-4 victory over last-place Monterey (4-18) on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s funny, the game before (in Wednesday\u2019s 17-4 win over Martinez) I went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts, but everyone else was swinging the bat well,\u201d Buckson said. \u201cSo if one or two guys have a bad day, the rest of the guys will come through. \u2026 That puts you at ease, keeps you comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buckson was looking for one more home run in his last at bat Friday night against Martinez as he finished just shy of hitting for the cycle. Buckson led off the game with a base hit, then hit a double to left centerfield in the second and burned up the base paths in the fifth for a triple.<\/p>\n
On a 2-2 count in the eighth inning, Buckson connected on a grounder to short and beat out the throw to first, which was ruled an error.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying too hard there, I think,\u201d Buckson admitted. \u201cOh well, next time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pacifics were still riding the momentum from Thursday\u2019s win as they put up eight runs in the first two innings. Buckson came to the plate in the bottom of the first inning for a leadoff single. Kyle Guerra drew a walk on four straight pitches, then John Bicos struck out. But then the wheels fell off for Martinez starter Ryan Harvel, who threw two wild pitches to Chris Wright, allowing Buckson to take third and then score.<\/p>\n
Harvel walked Wright and the next batter, Mark Hernandez, before Payton Rios hit a two-run double. Another wild pitch allowed Hernandez to score from third for a 4-0 San Rafael lead as the Pacifics went through their order.<\/p>\n
Buckson doubled to lead off the second inning and scored on a towering double to the centerfield fence by Bicos. The Pacifics loaded the bases for Rios, who reached on a fielder\u2019s choice that scored Bicos. Harvel went off-target again and two more wild pitches scored two more San Rafael runs for an 8-0 Pacifics lead in the second.<\/p>\n
Harvel was charged with five wild pitches and eight walks as the Pacifics took a 9-0 lead before he left in the fourth inning.<\/p>\n
The Pacifics rolled to an 11-run lead in the fifth inning, while the Sturgeon continued to melt down with a mix of bad pitches, injuries and ejections.<\/p>\n
Buckson led off the fifth inning with a triple and scored on a wild pitch from Martinez reliever Caleb Natov, whose night was soon done after he drilled Telly Hill on the elbow. Martinez centerfielder Harrison Treble was injured when he hit the ground chasing down an RBI-single from Rios in the fifth and had to leave the game.<\/p>\n
The Sturgeon broke up the shutout in the seventh inning when Kea scored from third on a wild pitch. By then, Martinez manager Matthew Repplinger had decided he\u2019d seen enough, and got himself ejected during the seventh inning stretch. And he wasn\u2019t the only member of the Sturgeon to hit the showers early after yelling at the umpires.<\/p>\n
The Pacifics swept this week\u2019s four-game home and home series with the Sturgeon in grand fashion. After a 7-6 home win Sunday, the Pacifics won back-to-back games 14-2 and 17-4 in Martinez. San Rafael is 5-1 against Martinez this season, with four more scheduled meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a big momentum squad, so if go bad, we all go bad, but if we\u2019re good, we\u2019re all good,\u201d Idell said. \u201cWe\u2019re just going to figure out a way to keep on the gas the entire time and keep it good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Rafael Pacifics starting pitcher Alex Valasek (4) throws against the Martinez Sturgeon at Albert Park in San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,10007,7164,25726,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-120130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-marin-sports","10":"tag-newsletter","11":"tag-san-rafael-pacifics","12":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114720827296519021","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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