Cats implode in lopsided loss to River Bats

In the end, the Border Cats did themselves in.

Four errors, six wild pitches and three passed balls are a recipe for disaster, and that’s just what the Cats cooked up, dropping a sloppy 9-4 decision to the St. Cloud River Bats Friday night that also ended a season-high three-game winning streak.

“I don’t think we had the right focus. I think since we won the last three we might have been a little lackadaisical, certainly at the beginning of the game and we just weren’t ready to play,” said 1B Ryan Court, who was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Luckily, he said, the message was heard loud and clear, that the team can’t afford to take a single inning off and hope to succeed in the Northwoods League’s uber-tight North Division.

“I wouldn’t say that that happens all the time. I would say it was rare. I think we’ll learn from this, definitely and be ready to play. We’ve got a long road trip tomorrow against a good team that’s ahead of us.”

Cats manager Mike Steed said it’s a pattern the team has repeated all season long, but it’s a habit he thinks they’re starting to put behind them, despite what happened at Port Arthur Stadium on Friday night.

“Other than I think one game this year, all of our losses we’ve put it on ourselves. When we lose, we lose big. And what I mean by big is we do make a lot of errors. We just didn’t focus. When I say we came out flat, that hurt us. It put us in a hole,” Steed said.

Take the sixth inning as an example.

With starter Corey Pappel sent to the showers trailing 4-1 after allowing four runs on five hits through five, Paul Barton took over and promptly walked Kevin Hall to start the sixth.

Leadoff hitter John Schultz hit a grounder to short that Brett Doe should have handled, but didn’t. Though initially ruled an error, which would have been his second of the night, the scorers overturned the call and gave him a hit.

Tommy Coyle, the NWL’s leading hitter, singled to load the bases. Steve Nyisztor lifted a sacrifice fly to deep left to score Hall.

Devon Rodriguez hit what might have been an inning-ending double play to Doe, but another bobble loaded the bases again. Schultz came home on a wild pitch and the Bats took a five-run lead.

That was more than enough for starter Andy Berry (2-0), who left after seven, having allowed six hits, one run and striking out seven.

Schultz doubled in the seventh to score Armando Gutierrez from second to put St. Cloud up 7-1, but the Cats weren’t ready to file this one in the loss column just yet.

Taylor Honeycutt made quick work of reliever Deryk Marks, doubling to lead off the eighth. Doe reached on an error and then Tyler Pryor doubled to plate the Cats second run and put runners at second and third.

After P.K. Kitamura grounded to Marks for the first out, Kitchener’s Tanner Nivins knocked a stand-up double to right to empty the bases and draw the Cats within three.

But in the top of the ninth the Bats dashed any hope of a comeback, roughing up closer Drew Erwin, who didn’t help his own cause with a walk and three wild pitches that led to a pair of runs.

Gutierrez, who was 3-for-5 with an RBI, said it was important that St. Cloud end its four-game losing streak before leaving Thunder Bay.

“I guess the previous games we had we weren’t focused. So our coach came out today and told us we had to take at least one and head back to St. Cloud,” he said. “It’s not easy playing in front of these crowds, but it’s fun.”

The Cats head to Willmar for a three-game set starting Saturday.

Cat tracks: Border Cats pitcher Eric Brown shared a childhood memory with local media after the game. It turns out in 1996 that his father retrieved a homerun ball hit by Darryl Strawberry during the city’s Northern League days that landed in what is now the off-leash dog park beyond right field. At the time it was a baseball field. Brown, seven, was playing t-ball, while Strawberry, who would go on to win a World Series later that year with the New York Yankees, was working his way back as a member of the St. Paul Saints.  “I was actually standing on second and the ball landed somewhere around shortstop. So my dad ran out and picked it up and then after my game we came in and watched the rest of their game and got (Strawberry) to autograph the ball. I still have it at home.”