River Cats Report: Push for the Postseason
By Nick Avila
As the year dwindles down for the River Cats, their vision shines bright. With only seven games remaining (two against Memphis and five against second place Reno), Sacramento definitely holds the key to that postseason door. With a 1.5 game lead over Reno in the Pacific Coast League Pacific Northern, the Cats have a magic number of seven. That’s either seven Sac wins, seven Reno losses, or a mixture of both.
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After Zach Neal‘s solid performance helped Sac prevail in the finale of a four-game series against the Oklahoma City Redhawks and staved off a sweep, the Cats went to Memphis to face the PCL American Southern-leading Redbirds. Led by a strong 3 for 5 performance from Jose Martinez and a 2 for 4 day from Nick Buss, that included a homer, “los Gatos del Rio” took the opener 6-3.
Hitting Performance of the Week: A team effort this week, with 24 hits and 20 runs against Nashville.
Feb 25, 2014; Dunedin, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Deck McGuire (68) poses for a photo at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The Cats then dropped the middle two of the four-game set before clinching a split with another 6-3 win. Along with a solid outing from Deck McGuire, where he pitched 6 2/3 allowing one run, the bats had 11 hits.
Pitching Performance of the Week: A tie between Deck McGuire with 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball and Zach Neal with 6 2/3 innings pitched, two earned runs, seven Ks and a W.
The Cats then prepared for their last road series of the season and were thrashed by the Nashville Sounds. But the Cats would get their revenge as they’d pile up 20 runs tonight in a 20-1 slaughtering. Every single Cats player earned multiple hits in the contest.
Additionally, the Cats added catcher Bryan Anderson to their roster for the push. Dan Otero, who was sent to the River Cats earlier in the week, rejoined his rightful teammates in Oakland.