Disastrous finish

Seven-run leads in the eighth inning are usually a sure thing.

Not when the Thunder Bay Border Cats bullpen is involved.

The first victim, John Jeanes, gave up two runs in the eighth, and then the usually reliable Donnie White had a disastrous ninth-inning appearance trying to close out the Duluth Huskies (15-12) on Sunday afternoon.

White didn’t allow a run in his first 11 innings to start his Northwoods League career. On Sunday he was torched for six and was yanked without getting an out, his third straight shaky outing that has team management planning to sit down with him and work out the mental side of his game.

Alec Smith, hastily called in from the bullpen to take over, fared little better, allowing a single to Jake Wise that gave that scored two to tie the game, a double to Chris Manship that put the Huskies ahead by a run and well on their way to an 11-7 come-from-behind stunner with 1,107 fans silenced at Port Arthur Stadium.

It wasted the three-hit, seven inning brilliance of starter John Lally, and has Border Cats manager Mike Steed thinking about making changes to his relief corps.

“There could be (changes),” Steed said. “We’ve talked about it and we’ve thought about it. That’s the tough part of the league, as far as making commitments to guys. But on the other hand, they’ve got to get the job done. And we definitely need to bolster the bullpen because right now I think everything else is clicking for us.”

Watching his bullpen continue its season-long implosion  – they’ve allowed 24 runs in four games, three of them losses – the second-year manager, who spent about 20 minutes after the disastrous loss locked in his office, said he wasn’t asking much out from his pitchers, just the preservation of a 7-0 lead.

It’s not that difficult a task, he said.

“We had six outs to get,” Steed said. “We gave up three hits in seven innings on 98 pitches and we have to use four guys to finish the ninth.

“That was just a complete collapse from our bullpen tonight.”

T.J. Bennett, who launched a Darryl Strawberry-like solo shot over the 400-foot sign in centre to start the fourth and put the Cats (11-20) up 4-0 on Duluth starter Jimmy O’Neill, said they took things too nonchalantly against a team fighting for its first-half playoff life.

“I think we maybe got a little bit relaxed. We play well when we’re relaxed usually and they hit the ball. We gave them some free bases, but they took advantage of the runners and they hit the ball when it mattered.

Recovering from the loss won’t be easy, said the 18-year-old out of Mesa, Ariz.

“As a team we finally got a few things going better at the plate. We’re pitching better out of the starters, we got a win going and kinda got on a roll. And it just really kind of deflated us. It’s going to be a tough one to respond to, but I think we can do it,” Bennett said.

Lally gave the Cats what they hadn’t seen in a few days, a solid start on the mound.

He set the Huskies down in order in the first and second, with his teammates spotting him a 2-0 lead, Alex Guthrie scoring on an error and Evan Weibel coming home on a David Fallon single.

Through four he’d only given up one hit, a third-inning double to Marcus Riewer. Meanwhile Bennett and Guthrie homered an inning apart to make it 4-0.

The Cats added one more in the sixth and two in the seventh, with Guthrie, who was 3-for-4, driving in his second run of the game.

John Jeanes took over in the eighth, and struggled immediately.

Kevin Kuntz walked and Riewer singled, Kuntz heading to third on an Ino Patron error. Kuntz came home on a wild pitch and Riewer scored on a Chris Manship single that loaded the bases with one out. Jeanes got out of it when Adam Humes lined out to shortstop Brett Kay, who stepped on second to double off the runner.

“I think the biggest think is (White) helped us out in the beginning,” Manship said. “He was wild so we were able to sit on mainly fastballs and not have to worry about the breaking pitch. Then we got to him, they kept bringing guys in. Guys were getting in trouble, having to put the ball over the plate, so we took advantage of it.”

The Cats loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth, but Patron, first-pitch swinging, lined out to centre to end the contest.

Eliott Van Gaver, who took over in the fifth and allowed three runs in four innings, was credited with the victory, his third in eight relief appearances.

Cat tracks: Offering free admission to the ballpark only drew about 400 more fans than the Border Cats have averaged in 2010, although at 700 a night, they're up about 33 fans a game over 2010.