With the Volcanoes coming off of two straight victories at Yakima, they look to continue that streak against the Everett AquaSox. The last time the Volcanoes faced the AquaSox they won three in a row to start their six game winning streak earlier this month. That doesn’t mean that this series will be easy by any stretch of the imagination because the previous three games that the AquaSox and Volcanoes faced each other, the AquaSox won all three at Volcanoes Stadium.
The AquaSox are also coming off a tough series against the Spokane Indians where they won 3 of 5 games.
The AquaSox start on the mound Stephen Landazuri, who has the team lead in wins for the AquaSox. The Volcanoes will need to get to Landazuri early and often to win this game. Landazuri has only given up one home run in his 30+ innings of work this season.
The Volcanoes counter with Cameron Lamb, who despite having three solid outings his last three starts, has only one win on the season which came June 17th against Spokane to start the season.
A couple of weeks ago I asked Lamb what his goals were for the season and he had this to say. “Each start to have a quality start. That is the biggest thing. Trying to go at least five (innings) in every start, and the results will take care of themselves.”
If Lamb can give the Volcanoes a quality start, and the offense can keep it going like the last two games, then they will come out with a solid chance of increasing their winning streak to three games.
Keys to the Game:
– The Volcanoes offense is built around power but keeping rallies alive is more about singles then home runs. If the Volcanoes can string together some base hits and get some rallies going in multiple innings they will have a good chance of winning the game. Especially with Landazuri pitching home runs are going to be a challenge tonight so they need to get on base any way they can.
– The pitching has to step up. Lamb needs to give the team a quality start but just as importantly is that the bullpen needs to come in and hold the AquaSox. Nothing hurts as bad as having a lead late in a game then watching it slip away.
– Limit the errors. Nothing has hurt the team more then getting two outs in an inning, then having a costly error that allows the opposing team to put some runs on the board. If the the Volcanoes make more then two errors tonight watch out for the AquaSox to capitalize on those mistakes.
Things to watch for:
-Mike Murray still leads the league in batting average at .408. With the next active player in the league at .358 look for Mike to extend that lead with a good game tonight.
-Jesus Galindo and Shawn Payne sit at first and third for the steals leaders for the league. If they get on the bases look for them to be on the move.
Tonights Volcanoes Lineup
1. Shawn Payne #5 CF
2. Kaohi Downing #9 2b
3. Joe Panik #12 SS
4. Mike Murray #25 DH
5. Brett Krill #10 RF
6. Dan Burkhart #15 C
7. Garrett Buechele #26 3b
8. Brice Cutspec #22 1b
9. Chuckie Jones #20 LF
SP Cameron Lamb #28