Walnut Creek eeks out crucial 2-1 win in pitchers duel against Alameda
DANVILLE, Calif. — The Walnut Creek Crawdads appeared to be headed in the wrong direction at the start of the week. The team had lost eight of its last 12 games heading into the Monday offday, and added another loss on Tuesday. The former No. 1 team in the CCL North was quickly falling out of playoff contention, and its future appeared bleak.
It’s fascinating how fast things can change.
The Crawdads corrected their slide with back-to-back wins against the Alameda Merchants and the Menlo Park Legends, regaining control of their destiny with playoff spots still up for grabs. The team arrived at Monte Vista High School on Friday knowing they couldn’t clinch a playoff spot just yet, but they also knew that a win would put them an arm’s length away from an invitation to the dance. That evening, they found a way to get that win.
Walnut Creek (21-15) outlasted Alameda (17-15) in a hard-fought pitcher’s duel, winning 2-1 in the two teams’ third of four meetings against each other in the final week of the regular season. With the San Luis Obispo Blues falling to the Conejo Oaks 5-4, Walnut Creek just needs to keep winning. One more win locks them into a playoff spot, and two more wins lock them into the No. 2 seed.
“We’ve won three in a row, so we’re gathering a little bit of momentum, and I hope we can come out here and duplicate, in terms of the win column, tomorrow,” Crawdads head coach Brant Cummings said. “Then, we’ll see what happens Sunday.”
Crawdads’ right-handed starting pitcher Carson Timothy didn’t receive any credit in the final line for the win, but his team wouldn’t have won without his performance. Timothy entered the day with a 1.62 ERA, but had thrown almost all of his pitches out of the bullpen before Friday. In his only other start — July 14, against the Menlo Park Legends in San Mateo — he gave up two runs early and struggled to settle in.
That theme appeared to be continuing early on. Timothy gave up a double to Merchants’ leadoff man and center fielder Dominick Najar, putting him in a bit of a hole, and it only got worse when he hit designated hitter Jackson Nystrom to put two runners on base. Thankfully, he was able to get out of it with a unique double play, where the Crawdads got the out at second base, and Nystrom was called for a runner’s interference, handing the defense the out at first.
From there, Timothy flat-out shoved. He blew past his pre-game benchmark of four innings, keeping his pitch count low as he set down 15 straight Merchants, striking out six of them — two swinging and four frozen, looking at strike three. He was able to masterfully mix his offspeed pitches with his fastball, and the opposing lineup didn’t have an answer.
“I was just focused on each pitch and executing each pitch,” Timothy said. “That can lead to great things when you’re just focusing on the process.
“I was able to land the offspeed early, and then when they got defensive at the plate and kind of sat on offspeed, I was able to run the heat in and freeze them up a little bit.”
Timothy finally allowed another base runner in the sixth inning, when Najar singled into center field on a line. The righty finished the inning, though, inducing a fielder’s choice and his seventh and final strikeout, freezing Nystrom with a fastball on the outside half of the plate. In the end, Timothy was able to get through six innings — his longest outing of the year — before reaching his 80-pitch pitch count, allowing just three base runners and no runs.
“I haven’t thrown that long in a pretty long time, so it was good,” Timothy said. “I kind of got rolling in the second there, kind of caught my groove and just wanted to keep going.”
Unfortunately for Timothy, his counterpart, Merchants’ right-handed starter Tyson Pereira, was also on top of his game. Pereira made life difficult for the Crawdads’ offense through six innings, allowing just three hits. One of those hits, though, was able to come around and score.
Ryan Ellis, Walnut Creek’s red-hot leadoff man and designated hitter, led off the bottom of the first with his fourth double in as many games. He then tagged up for third on an incredibly heads-up play, where Merchants left fielder Jack Bollinger went into a slide to make an incredible catch near the fence in foul territory. The baserunning move allowed him to then score on a groundout from Walnut Creek right fielder Joey Donnelly, giving the Crawdads a 1-0 lead.
“(Ellis’s) anticipation is, ‘OK, fly ball, foul territory. I’m going to go right back and tag, and then, if he (can’t) catch it, because it’s in foul territory, I can’t advance anyway,’” Cummings said. “He gets to third and then scores. It’s one of the biggest, if not the biggest, plays of the game.”
The 1-0 score held until the seventh inning. In the top half of the frame, the Crawdads’ first reliever of the game, right-hander Edward Said, gave up two singles, allowing the Merchants to tie the game. Right-handed reliever Micah Billings got his team out of the inning, and the offense answered back in the bottom half of the inning.
Donnelly, who entered the game hitless in his previous two contests for only the second time all summer, doubled into left-center field, putting him in position to advance to third on a single and score on a fielder’s choice off the bat of first baseman Kam Taylor.
“Definitely (Thursday), I was pressing,” Donnelly said. “I got some really good teammates around me. They were telling me, ‘Relax, dude. Like it’s baseball.’ I took it to heart, so thankful for those guys, and just happy to go out there and put some good swings on it.”
The bullpen took advantage of the narrow lead and didn’t falter. Billings got the first out in the eighth inning before handing the ball over to left-handed closer Bradyn Barnes, who got the five-out save.
Barnes’ final out, a weak flyout to Donnelly, puts the Crawdads 27 outs away from clinching a playoff berth. They host the Menlo Park Legends on Saturday, a team they’ve struggled against this season, but have beaten in their last two meetings. If they win that game, they’ll play Alameda, who will be playing spoiler at that point, for a chance to become the No. 2 seed. If the Crawdads and Merchants both lose, the Crawdads will also get locked into the playoffs. However, if the Crawdads lose and Alameda wins, the final game of the season will decide who goes to the playoffs.
“It’s kind of us and them fighting for a playoff spot right now,” Timothy said. “It was a good win, it puts us in a good spot, and we want to get a good spot in the playoffs.”
To do that, the Crawdads just need to keep on winning.
By Ethan Ignatovsky