Considering that the Sacramento River Cats have been on a roll lately – winners of eight of their last ten - you would hope that, along with all the kids finding prizes in the plastic eggs that were scattered across the grass in the Kinder BBQ area, the Cats would find a way to scatter enough hits to keep the good times rolling along.

The visiting Tucson Padres cut the good times short by providing solid starting pitching and timely hitting to best Sacramento 7-5 on Easter Sunday, despite comeback attempts in each of the final four innings by the River Cats.

A weakness of the Cats early this season has been allowing the opposing team to put up multiple runs in the opening frame. Falling behind early is not part of manager Darren Bush’s game plan.

“I feel strongly that these guys are ready to take the mound as soon as they get out there,” said Bush from his office after the game. “It’s just right now, we’re not making the pitches in that inning to get the outs.”

Combine those stats with starter Josh Outman’s stats from his first three games this season - eight of his ten earned runs allowed occurred in the first inning of play - and the table was set for Tucson to get out to a hot start.

After getting Padre lead-off hitter Everth Cabrera to pop out to the catcher, Outman’s day took a turn for the worse. The next two batters walked before first baseman Anthony Rizzo strode to the plate. Rizzo, who entered the game hitting .431 and has driven in 24 runs already this year, sent a blooper into center that dropped for a single and loaded the bases.

Jesus Guzman, who had a cup of coffee with the San Francisco Giants in 2009, came up with the bags full and roped a double down the left field line that cleared the bases and gave the Padres a 3-0 lead.

Light-hitting Tucson catcher Eddy Rodriguez led off the second inning with a solo shot that carried well over the Toyota sign in left and gave the Padres a 4-0 lead after two innings.

Padre starter Jon Leicester (1-0) kept the Cats from scratching their way back into the game by pitching five strong innings of work. In allowing only three hits, striking out four and giving up no earned runs, Leicester proved to be a formidable force on the mound. It wasn’t until he was yanked from the contest that Sacramento would begin their comeback, but not before Tucson would score two more.

In the fourth, after quickly getting the first two batsmen out, the ninth hitter in the Padre order, Luis Durango, hit a clean single into center which was followed by a walk to Cabrera.

Aaron Cunningham then lifted a 3-1 pitch into left that just kept drifting. Left fielder Steven Tolleson, who’s filling in for an injured Chris Carter, seemed to lose the ball momentarily as he faded back. The ball would just miss Tolleson’s glove and dropped in between him and recent call-up Shane Peterson, who was in center. It was ruled a three-base error and two more Padre runs would score.

Normally an infielder, Tolleson was eager to help his team where needed and knows the outfield on a bright, sunny day in Sacramento can be tricky.

“I lost it in the sun for a little bit,” said Tolleson after the game. “When I found it again, it was about 10 feet behind me, the wind just kept blowing it. I’ve only been out there a couple of games, so it will get better.”

All three starting outfielders for the Cats were out with various injuries. Matt Carson (lower back tightness), Chris Carter (sprained thumb) and Jai Miller, who tweaked his knee the day before, all missed the game.

After two quick outs in the fifth, Outman was pulled after a bad call. First base umpire Matt Schaufert ruled that Cat first baseman Mitch Canham pulled his foot off the bag when he didn’t. Matt Clark took first on the bad call and Outman headed for the clubhouse.

Speaking of Canham, the sparingly played catcher was 2-for-3 with two singles and a run scored in the contest and felt comfortable against his former team.

“I was just looking for something to drive,” said Canham on his way to the showers. “Obviously, being from the Padres (organization) the last few years, I’ve seen the guys and I kind of know the approach. They are all really good pitchers and I know they have a lot of speed all over the field, so you really have to put it in the right spots. I was happy to put the barrel on the ball today.”

In the sixth, the Cats got Tolleson and Adrian Cardenas on with walks. Josh Donaldson torched a 2-0 offering from Tucson reliever Aaron Poreda that hit off the wall in left field and scored both base runners. After a base on balls was issued to Peterson, Adam Heether would fly out to center to end the threat.

Another rally in the seventh began as Canham walked and then Jemile Weeks singled. That was followed by two straight strikeouts before an Anthony Recker liner to center off Padre reliever Greg Burke that drove in Canham. The hot-hitting Cardenas kept the rally going with a line drive to right that plated Weeks and got the Cats to within two runs.

That lit the fuse for a fuming Burke, who let home plate umpire Dixon Stureman hear it about his balls and strikes calls before making his way on the long walk through the outfield wall in left center.

Another unearned run scored for Tucson in the eighth, when Cunningham lifted a sacrifice fly to center that scored Luis Durango. Durango was hit by a Joey Devine pitch and had advanced to third on a Weeks error.

Again the Cats would not go quietly. Three of the first four Cats batters in the eighth walked to load the bases before Eric Sogard lifted a sacrifice fly to center that scored Peterson to get the Cats within two runs, who now trailed 7-5.

Sacramento’s rally in the ninth - starting with back-to-back singles and ending on a double play - would fall short.

Manager Darren Bush knows the Cats had their chances to claw their way back in.

“The game is nine innings long,” said Bush. “They put up a few runs in the first and you have to be able to bounce back and try and pick away at whatever they put up. Tonight we did the same thing. We had more than enough opportunities to take the game back over but it just didn’t work out that way.”
 

PHOTOS COURTESY OF STEVEN CHEA