Two dozen angry Arizona Wildcats streamed from their dugout, angry at what they felt was an intentional drilling by an Arizona State pitcher and invigorated by their team’s sudden rally.
The pluck was nice. The end result was ugly.
ASU handed the UA its third consecutive loss Tuesday, a 10-5 drubbing in front of a season-high 2,238 fans at Kindall/Sancet Stadium. The tension-filled loss won’t count in the Pac-10 standings, but it stung nonetheless.
UA pitchers struggled to throw strikes against their in-state rivals; with the game on the line, they could only watch as ASU made one stellar defensive play after another.
UA coach Andy Lopez blamed the loss on “a tough middle part of the game.” Arizona State (22-6) scored four times in the fourth inning and twice in the fifth to pull away.
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When Arizona (20-10) fought back, it resulted in a bench-clearing incident and one ejection.
The dustup began when Arizona State’s Kyle Ottoson drilled Arizona’s Cole Frenzel with a fastball with one out in the fourth. Frenzel, who was hit in the head by Ottoson in his first at-bat and has been hit five times in his last four games, stared the pitcher down as he walked to first.
Sun Devils second baseman Zack MacPhee argued with Frenzel when he reached the bag, and the benches cleared. One player, Arizona bullpen catcher T.C. Mark, was ejected.
The scuffle could have been worse, Lopez said, but umpires intervened before the two teams met on the field.
“Cole was fired up. Cole might have said something to the pitcher,” he said. “Before you know it, I got Hulk Hogan coming out of the bullpen.”
The fracas seemed to invigorate the Wildcats offense. Jett Bandy, the next UA batter, cut the lead to 6-4 with an RBI double. Steve Selsky then walked, bringing up Robert Refnsyder with the bases loaded. Refsnyder drove a 3-2 pitch from reliever Mark Lambson into the left-center field gap, but center fielder Andy Workman snared it with a dive.
“If the ball’s a little more in the gap,” Lopez said, “maybe it’s a different ballgame.”
MacPhee paced ASU, going 2 for 5 with three RBIs; Matt Newman drove in five runs, two coming on a towering home run to right field.
UA starter Vincent Littleman (1-3) allowed four runs in 3ª innings, but Lopez was more bothered by reliever Bryce Bandilla’s performance.
Throwing in the mid-90s but with zero control, the one-time UA closer surrendered four runs while getting just two outs. He allowed four hits and walked two, and didn’t register a single strikeout. Though Lopez wouldn’t mention Bandilla by name, he said going to the bullpen was the worst decision he made Tuesday, “and I’m going to have to live with it.”
In his last four appearances, Bandilla has allowed eight earned runs and eight hits; his ERA during that time is a ghastly 15.43.
“I’ve got to make a better decision in the fourth inning,” Lopez said. “This game is my fault completely. I cost us this game.”
Inside pitch
• The Wildcats played without starting third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean, who may have suffered a broken right wrist. The former Cienega High School standout will be X-rayed today. Mejias-Brean first tweaked his wrist lifting weights a month ago. “We’re hoping for the best,” Lopez said.
• First baseman Josh Garcia was forced to leave the game at the end of the fifth inning with severe leg cramps but is expected to play this weekend against Cal. He was replaced by Brandon Dixon.
Up next
• What: California at Arizona, three-game series
• When: 6 p.m. Friday; 6 p.m. Saturday; noon Sunday
• Radio: 1290-AM
