Reds Split the Difference in Six-Game Set

The Reds drove to Laurel last Tuesday with their fate in their hands. Tied in the loss column with league-leading Lewistown, and holding two games in hand, Glasgow knew it could draw even at the top of the table with a spate of strong midweek performances, first versus the Dodgers, then on Wednesday in a twinbill at Lewistown.

The denouement of the regular season, however, spiraled nearly out of control following three losses in four games, leaving coach Jack Sprague’s hopes for a high seed in next week’s East Legion Tournament dangling by one lone, sinewy string, like a molar floundering in the back of a prize fighter’s blood-filled maw after he absorbs a rattling right hook to his jawbone.

“Ridiculous,” said Sprague of Tuesday’s second game, a 21-16 loss in which the Reds leapt to a 6-0 first-inning lead, only to surrender twice that number in the bottom half of the frame. “After [that],” said Sprague, “it was a matter of who could survive the longest. [That game] wasn’t fun at all.”

This came on the heels of a 4-2 defeat during which the Reds rewarded their foes with five total errors, two of which occurred in the decisive three-run Dodger fifth. A Jason Thibault error on a groundball to short followed by a Keil Krumwiede error on a sacrifice bunt attempt set the stage for the go-ahead, two-run triple.

“It came down to one pitch,” Sprague said. “We threw a changeup in a situation we shouldn’t have done, and they caught hold of it.”

A complete game, two-hit shutout from Thibault saved an inert Reds offense, which scored its only run in the third on a booted ground ball, in game three, a 1-0 victory over Lewistown. The Glaswegians sustained their stinginess until the sixth inning of the second Lewistown clash; two sixth-inning runs, this time, proved decisive, and sent the Reds to their second 4-2 defeat of the week. Starter Ryan Padden’s clean start – 1 ER in 6 IP – was left begging.

Saturday’s two games quelled any overarching sense of Hi-Line panic. The Reds mercied Sidney for the third and fourth straight times. A Keil Krumwiede home run and five Dylan Guttenberg RBIs led Glasgow’s charge in 12-2 and 16-3 routs.

As it stands, the Reds remain one game from the standings; peak, per the loss column. Lewistown and Laurel have both fallen seven times; Glasgow and the Billings Blue Jays, 8.

“Teams one, two, three, and four,” said Sprague, trailing off before adding, “it’s basically all a draw right now.”

Six games remain on the Reds’ slate – two each Tuesday (vs. Laurel), Wednesday (vs. Billings Cardinals), and Saturday (vs. Billings Blue Jays).

Through all the fanfare surrounding the possibility of a first-place regular season finish, Sprague eschews the minutiae of fretful "what ifs" in favor of general pragmatism. “It is what it is,” he said. “Doesn’t matter who you play – you’ve still gotta play ‘em.”