Thursday was a special evening at Raley field in Sacramento, Ca. Legendary Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry was on hand to be honored, receiving his acknowledgement for being part of the 2015 class of the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame. He was selected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1991.

Perry, now 76-years-old has an amazing sense of humor.  When Perry was asked by Steven Harmon, a local writer and author about the effect of being let go and sent to Cleveland in the prime of his career, he said “Well it hurt us a lot [his family] but I went on to pitch very well until I was 45.” Perry then quickly added, “I got into great shape and continued to do very well because there was nothing else to do in Cleveland.”

He was in incredible shape and his endurance was a key part of his success on the diamond. Over his Hall of Fame career, Perry pitched 303 complete games, with 10 seasons pitching over 300 innings. This is so remarkable considering the state of today’s game with pitch counts and bullpen specialists like relief pitchers and closers.

One of Perry’s most talked about parts of his career was the famous “spitball.”  It was said he used foreign substances on the ball to give him an extra advantage while he was on the mound. In addition, this was simply mind games to play with the batters. When Perry was asked if the spitball or the Vaseline ball had anything to do with his success, he said with a big smile on his face, “Well, they might have had something to do with it although they never found any of that.”

As for the game between the Sacramento River Cats and the Las Vegas 51’s, there was a little of everything in this game. For the first few innings it seemed fans were going to have a good pitcher’s duel. River Cats LHP Ty Blach retired 12 of the first 15 batters he faced, only giving up two singles and a double.

The 51’s Darin Gorski was also pitching well early on. Gorski was backed up with some incredible defense by center fielder Darrell Ceciliani. Ceciliani made two outstanding diving plays in the bottom of the second inning to keep the River Cats scoreless. Then came the offense.

In the fourth inning the River Cats scored. Adam Duvall, the right-handed power hitter, extended his hit streak to 6 games with a towering 2-run homer that scored Andrew Susac. This gave the River Cats the early 2-1 lead. Las Vegas then held the River Cats scoreless until late in the game, allowing runs in both the eighth and ninth innings. By then, it would be too late as the Las Vegas 51’s would walk away with the 7-4 victory over the Sacramento River Cats.

The River Cats had a very up and down game on the defensive side. The brightest spot on defense was when veteran 2nd baseman Ronny Cedeno starting an inning ending double play. Cedeno showing his range, laying out for a ground ball that was behind second base, then giving a perfect no handed glove flip to shortstop Ehire Adrianza, who turned and threw the ball to Adam Duvall at first for the inning over double-play.

Unfortunately, there were too many errors by the River Cats that ended up being the difference in the game. This including catching errors by Travis Ishikawa and Carlos Triunfel and a throwing error by Adam Duvall.

Quite possibly what many consider to be the best part of a minor league game happened again on Thursday. 51’s Third Baseman Danny Muno was pulled in the 3rd inning. It was not told why Muno was pulled; could it be performance or even injury?  The answer was soon to follow. At the end of the 3rd inning, you could see Muno getting hugs from all his teammates and coaches, then grabbing his belongings from the dugout. Muno then made the lonely walk to the clubhouse. The New York Mets made the call to bring Danny Muno to the big leagues. He follows his teammate, Eric Campbell, who was called up Tuesday evening. This is such a wonderful sight to see. Every player gives so much to the game, hoping he has given enough so that, at some moment, he would receive that call. To see the range of emotions and reactions that happen when a player’s dream is made is truly remarkable.

The four game series was split at 2 apiece. Las Vegas won the 4th game by the score of 7-4. Gorski received his second win of the season with Ty Blach recording his first loss. Each team tallied 10 hits in the final game but the advantage went to the 51’s after the River Cats committed three errors. The Sacramento River Cats will now go on the road, beginning a four game series with the Salt Lake City Bees at 7pm Friday night.

By Joe Vicory