SAN MATEO, Calif. — When the Walnut Creek Crawdads boarded their bus to head across the Bay to face the Menlo Park Legends, they were riding a four-game losing streak. Despite that fact, the team had reason to be optimistic. The offense had awakened the day prior with an 11-run performance against the non-CCL California Tigers. Things appeared to be trending up. 

The Crawdads arrived at a chilly College of San Mateo baseball field with high energy and the expectation that they were going to snap their losing streak against the team that started it. Nine innings later, those feelings and thoughts were lost in the wind. 

Walnut Creek (14-10) allowed Menlo Park (12-15) to jump out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning, and despite crawling back into contention over the course of the game, couldn’t come back all the way, losing 6-5 on an unforgiving Tuesday evening. The Crawdads are now 0-3 against the Legends this summer and it seems like the baseball gods are actively working against them.

Here are three takeaways from the loss.

ONE BLOWUP INNING

If it weren’t for the second inning of Tuesday’s game, the Crawdads would’ve won 5-2. Unfortunately, that’s just not how it works. It often doesn’t matter how good you pitch the rest of the game if one inning is a haunting one.

Throughout the losing streak, one blowup inning or outing from the Crawdads’ pitching staff has come back to bite the team again and again. In the team’s first loss to the Legends that kicked off the losing streak, they allowed four runs in the eighth inning to hand the lead over. In the team’s Sunday afternoon loss to the San Luis Obispo Blues, a five-run fourth inning put them on the back foot for the rest of the game. In the team’s loss to the Tigers, eight of the 12 runs they gave up were credited to left-handed reliever JoJo Salazar’s line; he was only able to get three outs across two innings. Tuesday was just a continuation of the trend.

Right-handed starter Raymond Olivas rocked up to the mound in the second inning with a spotless ERA in 11 innings pitched as a Crawdad. He set down the Legends 1-2-3 in the first inning and started the second with a strikeout. Things were going well. Then they weren’t. 

Two inconspicuous singles into center field got the party started. Olivas seemed poised to work around them after getting a flyout for the second out of the frame, but it would be a long time before he got the third. A third single, this one to left field, brought a run in to score and the throw home put runners on second and third. Another single up the middle and a double into the right-center gap brought three more runs across the plate. 

Olivas was able to get out of the inning with another flyout, but the damage had been done. 

The righty would allow two more runs to score in the fourth and the bullpen pitched four innings of no-hit ball when his day was done, but it didn’t matter. It’s hard to win when allowing a blowup inning, and the Crawdads keep falling victim to them.  

LATE FIGHT 

Part of what makes blowup innings so difficult to overcome — especially early blowup innings — is that they put the offense in a position where they need to climb a mountain to get back into the game. It took the Crawdads’ offense some time to start climbing, but they showed fight and didn’t let the Legends escape without breaking a sweat. 

After scoring two runs in the fourth inning on right fielder Joey Donnelly’s second home run of the year and an RBI groundout off the bat of left fielder Kam Taylor, the offense managed to rally in the eighth inning. The performance was reminiscent of the Crawdads’ game against the Tigers, the offense refusing to give up. 

Walnut Creek loaded the bases with a double sandwiched between two walks with one out in the inning. Taylor then slapped a ball the other way, falling in front of the left fielder for an RBI single, scoring the first run of the frame. The Crawdads were within three. 

At that point, the Legends pulled right-handed reliever Francisco Leija for fellow righty William Pires in an effort to send the offense that was waking up back to sleep. It didn’t work. Second baseman Cam Calvillo drew a four-pitch walk to drive in another run and keep the bases loaded. The Crawdads were within two. 

Third baseman Ryley Leininger would keep the station-to-station baseball going, pulling a ball into right field and scoring the third run of the inning. The Crawdads were within one. 

Unfortunately, that’s as close as they would get. Center fielder Trey Johnson would strike out on a foul tip and shortstop Jared Mettam got underneath a pitch, popping out in foul territory. The lineup was then shut down in the ninth inning.

MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY 

Before Johnson foul tipped strike three into the catcher’s glove in the eighth inning, he had a disagreement with home plate umpire Gus Cardova about the strike two call. Cardova called a pitch that the center fielder felt was below the zone a strike, prompting the left-handed batter to step out of the box and collect himself. It was far from the first time that the visitors had disagreed with the strike zone. 

Cardova and Walnut Creek’s batters had been at odds all day over low strike calls. Catcher Zach Justice, Taylor and Leininger all struck out looking at pitches they felt were below the zone and let Cardova know their thoughts.  

Even at-bats that didn’t end up in backward K’s weren’t free of controversy. The first out in the Crawdads’ great eighth inning was a Donnelly swinging strikeout. Donnelly swung at a pitch way out of the zone after he disagreed with a low, called strike two.

One day, we might see Robo-umps at every level of baseball, but for now, the game still has the human element of unique strike zones. The Crawdads’ lineup, which was already struggling for most of the game, wasn’t getting any help in the slightest from Cardova, and it was just one more challenge they couldn’t overcome.

By Ethan Ignatovsky