Kennedy leads A's into break with win
A's tied in second with Silver Sox at midway point, down Astros 12-2
Kevin Kennedy may not rack up rack up strikeouts, but the gentle giant has been dominant just like his personality, quietly stringing together 20 straight innings without allowing an earned run with five shutout innings Sunday in a 12-2 win over the Astros.
"Every pitcher may like strikeouts, but Kennedy does a better job keeping the entire team involved by getting so many batters to hit the ball softly to our defense," A's manager Ryan Metcalfe said. "The defense repays him by making the routine plays and I think the fact that he almost never walks anybody helps the defense stay focused."
Kennedy did give up more fly balls than usual and even a rare hit batsman, but he never gave more than one hit in an inning Sunday, picking up the win with one strikeout, one walk and four hits allowed in five innings.
He also showed signs of breaking out of his season-long slump which may be attributed to a broken left wrist suffered last year. Kennedy made two hits and scored two runs with his single playing a key role in the A's two-run second that gave them a 3-0 lead and the ability to relax the rest of the way.
Brodie Nissen, the A's hottest hitter with 8 hits in his last 14 at-bats, started the rally with a leadoff single and advanced on a walk by Keith Lederer. Kennedy followed with a sharp single to load the bases and Kevin Metcalfe drove home the first run with a grounder to third. Brent Everett followed with the first of two well-hit sacrifice flies on the day.
Billy Dodson, who created the A's first run with a walk and aggressive base running did more of the same reaching first on a dropped strikeout in the third and scoring on an error he created with his hustle.
"Billy may not be stealing as many bases as he used too, but he still knows how to create runs," Metcalfe said. "He's still getting big hits and showing controlled aggression on the bases."
Dodson got one of those big hits in the seventh with an RBI double and then scored on an RBI double by Mike Mastro' that made the A's lead 9-0.
The table-setting duo of Clinton Yeager and Ryan Metcalfe struggled to get rallies started but the lower half of the lineup filled the void. Nissen, Lederer and Kennedy each scored twice in the game with all three reaching and scoring in the eighth.
With the victory, the A's (7-1) hit the halfway mark tied in second with the Silversox. The Titans (8-1) edged the Silversox 6-3 with a comeback rally capped off by a clutch two-run single by Kenton Lewis in the sixth putting the Titans ahead to stay. It appears to be a three-team race for first between the three remaining teams to appear in the AL championship series during the last two years. The race for first could be key in the playoffs and the A's doubleheader with the Silversox on Aug. 13 (to makeup a rainout) could be pivotal.
The A's have next week off with several players expected to make the REBL All-Star game next week against the Tri-Valley MSBL. Voting is still open. The other A's will enjoy some rest and relaxation.
Ryan Metcalfe pitched his first inning of relief since opening day and showed better control and life on his pitches than before. He may, however, be headed back to the disabled list still not recovered from an injury suffered late last season.
Kevin Kennedy continued to keep the A's in control pitching five scoreless innings. He also had two and scored twice to lead the A's past the Astros 12-2.
Billy Dodson (24) hung on to make the out despite a hard slide by an Astros runner. He also scored three runs and hit an RBI double in the victory.
Kennedy- MVP
