RedHawks stumble against Z's

By Bob Hersom

Published: August 28, 2007

The RedHawks, with touted starting pitcher Eric Hurley showing the way, took a big step backward Monday night.

Hurley, the Texas Rangers' top pitching prospect, was tattooed for eight runs and four home runs in 4 1/3 innings.

And the RedHawks' final regular season homestand began with an 8-3 loss to New Orleans at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.

"The ball was up and it got hit, that's what happened,” Hurley said. "The scoreboard showed what happened.”

Coupled with Albuquerque's loss Monday night, the Pacific Coast League American South standings look this way with seven games remaining:

Albuquerque (70-65) leads the RedHawks (69-67) by 1½ games and New Orleans (69-68) by two games. The RedHawks' remaining games are three with New Orleans and four at Albuquerque.

Hurley had allowed just seven home runs in his first 11 RedHawks starts. He hadn't been touched for four homers in a game since June 19 in his final Double-A game before being promoted to Oklahoma City.

"If I'd thrown better pitches I would have been all right,” Hurley said. "I didn't throw many good pitches, and I got hit around. It was bad day. It's something to go work on, learn from it. I'm not going to think about today anymore. It's over.”

Hurley was coming off two straight winning performances. In those games he had allowed only two earned runs and five hits in 14 innings.

But his RedHawks record dipped to 4-7, and his ERA rose from 3.88 to 4.67.

"He didn't have his best stuff, and he got lit up,” RedHawks manager Bobby Jones said. "It's that simple. He didn't make pitches. He left stuff over the plate, and they got hit hard. It happens to everybody once in awhile. It just wasn't on.”

Three of New Orleans' four homers off Hurley were struck in a five-run fourth inning. The good news for Hurley was that three of the homers came with no one on base. Fernando Tatis hit a three-run homer, and Robinson Cancel, Andy Tracy and Jason Alfaro had solo shots.

While New Orleans ended a three-game losing streak and won for only the ninth time in 26 games in August, the RedHawks continued their struggles at home.

The RedHawks have won 22 of their last 32 road games — but lost 17 of their last 26 games at The Brick.

Comments