Cobb Crushes First Homer in Loss
Ballers Drop Game 2 vs Missoula
By Nevada Cullen
MISSOULA, Mont. -- Tremayne Cobb Jr. made an unforgettable memory on Opening Day at Raimondi Park. In Oakland's May 20 victory over the Ogden Raptors, Cobb went 5-5 and needed just a single home run to hand the Ballers a knockout round victory.
As good as Cobb's start to the season has been, there was one feat he had not achieved. All seven of his extra base hits were doubles; he had not homered.
Then in the seventh inning of Wednesday's clash with the Missoula PaddleHeads, Cobb came up to the plate with the Ballers trailing 8-3. The right-handed hitter took a couple of balls to create a plus count.
Cobb clocked the 2-0 pitch to deep left center for a three-run home run, bringing the Ballers within two. His clutch swing resulted in his first professional long ball and landed 447 feet away from home plate after hurtling through the air at 106 mph.
Unfortunately, the PaddleHeads pulled ahead to win 12-7, scoring 11 runs from the fifth to the seventh inning. The Ballers struck out a season-worst 16 times in the loss.
Christian Almanza kept up his homer-hitting ways. He mashed his third dinger in two games with an opposite-field solo shot in the second.
Reed Butz gave the Ballers five solid innings. But, Dawson Day outdueled him with six innings of two-hit ball for Missoula and struck out 10.
Roberto Peña launched his league-leading 13th homer for the PaddleHeads. His seventh-inning two-run blast was the dagger for the Ballers.
The victor in Thursday's rubber match will own the head-to-head tiebreaker, as it is the final game between Oakland and Missoula this regular season. If the two finish tied for a playoff spot in either half, Thursday's winner will get that spot.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. PDT on Thursday. As always, you can listen to the action on 860 AM The Answer and on the Oakland Ballers YouTube channel.
