Midwest League Action: Games of September 9, 2009 (UPDATED)

Complete scoreboard

Fort Wayne 3 @ South Bend 1:

Fort Wayne starting pitcher Simon Castro worked 6-2/3 innings of no-hit baseball, but was taken out after issuing a pair of two-out walks in the seventh.

"If (Castro) doesn't walk those guys and gets three quick outs, he has maybe 80 pitches at the end of the seventh," Dascenzo said, "heck, man, I'm going to let him go for it.

"But it got to the point where he lost some command, he was getting tired, and we had (Nick) Schumacher ready. That was one of the hardest times I've ever had to take a pitcher out."

@Great Lakes 7, West Michigan 2 (New Links):

Great Lakes Loons' manager Juan Bustabad's pick for starting pitcher Wednesday was definitely the right choice.

Bustabad put the ball in Aaron Miller's hand, and the lefthander responded with six shutout innings as the Loons beat West Michigan 7-2 at Dow Diamond in the Loons' first-ever Midwest League playoff game.

And this one from our friends in Midland

Kyle Russell led off the bottom of the second inning for the Loons with a screaming triple to deep left-centerfield, and, two outs later, Joe Becker singled him home to give for a 1-0 lead.

Russell admitted that the start of the game was a little nerve-wracking. "I would be lying if I said I didn't have any jitters coming up for that first at-bat," he said with a smile. "We tried to (offset) those jitters as much as possible by going out there and having fun and having a good time before the game. And I think that showed in the game. We played really good baseball today."

Bonus excerpt:

"If we get that next win (Thursday), we'll get a day off, and that's something we really want to get," Russell added. "But it's going to be a rough matchup over there, because we know the environment over there at West Michigan.

"It's a beautiful stadium, and we saw the environment there when Detroit Tigers' pitcher Jeremy) Bonderman pitched in front of 10,000 fans," he added of Fifth Third Ballpark. "We're expecting the same kind of turnout (Thursday)."

Cedar Rapids 6 @Peoria 4 (Final 10):

The normally loose Chiefs’ squad was uncharacteristically tight, turning routine plays into disaster.

How disastrous? A wild pitch on an intentional walk scored the game-winning run. A routine double play turned into an unearned run. And, a runner was able to go first-to-third on a passed ball.

“They didn’t beat us tonight. We beat ourselves with unforced errors,” Chiefs manager Marty Pevey said. “You do that you’ll lose. It doesn’t matter who you play, or at what level. We played a little tight tonight and it ended up costing us.”

@Burlington 12, Kane County 7:

The Bees had the better name, and the best arm, in Wednesday's 12-7 win over the Cougars in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs.

The guy's name is Ivor Hodgson, and he was darn good on this night.

Hodgson gave up three hits and walked one in six innings. And when his night was over, the Cougars' night was over, although the Bees' bullpen and the ever-shrinking strike zone of plate umpire Tyler Wilson made the game interesting.