Night One in the Books – Night Two Features Four Games

Sunday night marked the opening of the 2022 Majors season with only one game on the docket. The defending champ Padres squared off against the White Sox, winners of two of the last three playoff titles, in a rematch of last June’s championship game that brought one of the largest crowds in recent memory to Nutile. The game was the first played on the newly re-skinned Nutile C infield.

The pitching matchup featured two 12 year olds, Jack Lennon for the Padres and William Fiorentino for the White Sox.  The game was scoreless through two innings and included some fine Padres defense from infielders James Marshall, James Chaytors and Ben Saurman.

The White Sox mounted a rally in the third.  Fiorentino and Ben Ragosa walked to start the inning followed by a booming two run double to right center by Adrian Lupien.  Lupien came around to score on a two out wild pitch after Leo Gannon advanced him to third. Lupien finished the night 3 for 3 at the plate.

Fiorentino worked efficiently with 4 shutout innings to earn the victory and he was aided by solid defense. Perhaps the finest play was from first baseman Dylan Sala that involved a collision in which he held on to a Luke Seitz fly ball for the final out of the fourth, stranding two runners in scoring position.

Evan Wilson, new to the White Sox this season, struck out the side in the 5th and then scored a run in the 6th thanks to his base running.  Saurman pitched 2 1/3 innings in relief of Lennon for the Pads.

The Padres entered the last half of the 6th trailing, 4-0. Brendan Kutylo and Lennon reached base and both scored on a sacrifice fly by Saurman and a wild pitch. Ben Ragosa came in for the White Sox and closed the door for the 4-2 final.

Tuesday night’s games have been postponed to Wednesday due to rain.  The Padres face the Diamondbacks at 5:15 pm on Nutile C, the Orioles play the A’s at 530 pm on Nutile A and the White Sox square off against the Cardinals on Nutile B at 545 pm.  This game will be the first majors game played on Nutile B in recent memory as the league is trying use the entire complex for a few nights this season.  The short fences on B may also lead to more long balls.

The most intriguing match-up of the night is the night cap on C at 7:15 pm featuring the Dodgers and Red Sox, two teams littered with talent.  The Dodgers, along with the White Sox, were the teams highlighted by coaches in a pre-season poll as those most likely to hoist the trophy in June. Time well tell.

It’s baseball season!  Come down to Nutile to see the action this week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights.

Posted in TWIB Notes 2022