Coyotes continue to spiral out of contention

EDINBURG — The Edinburg Coyotes were hoping a return to the Rio Grande Valley would reverse their recent misfortunes.

But instead, their first home game in two weeks only added to their bleak postseason outlook as they have now lost 10 of their last 11.

The Alexandria Aces defeated the Coyotes 2-0 on Friday at Edinburg Baseball Stadium. The first-place Aces (13-4) are 8 1/2 games better than the Coyotes (4-12), who shortly will be running out of opportunities to catch up. Edinburg will not see Alexandria the rest of the season after the teams’ three-game series concludes Sunday.

“I am looking at these next two games as must-wins,” Coyotes manager Vince Moore said. “I think we need to win two out of three in this series. Just to win two out of three is tough.

“(The Aces) are playing well against everyone, not just us. The only team that gives them fits is Amarillo, and they are in second place.”

Edinburg’s loss was even tougher to swallow because, other than a few shaky moments, the team’s pitching, which had been struggling for over a month, was solid. It was the offense that didn’t come through for the Coyotes this time.

Aces starting pitcher Frank James picked up the win, walking one and scattering four hits in eight innings.

“Frank is just in his second start since coming back from injury,” Aces coach Ricky Van Asselberg said. “He did a pretty good job for us tonight. Anytime you can limit Edinburg to just four hits at home, you are doing a good job.”

Edinburg’s best chance to score came in the fifth inning with Nelson Teilon on third and first baseman Eric Allen on first with one out, but catcher Luis Gonzalez hit into an inning-ending double play.

And other than a double to start the seventh by Eric Gonzalez, who was then get caught in a rundown, the Coyotes offense did not muster much.

“It was just a mistake,” Gonzalez said about the rundown. “I am usually a smart baserunner. I don’t know what happened. We had opportunities to score, and we just couldn’t get it done.

“I have to tip my hat off to James. He came in here and did a good job. That guy really does his homework.”

Moore pinpointed the baserunning error as the reason his team added another loss to their record.

“We lost that game in the seventh,” Moore said. “Eric getting picked off at second really hurt us. We score that run and it’s a different ball game.”

Alexandria broke the scoreless tie in the eighth with an RBI single by left fielder Palmer Karr off reliever Brian Heaston that plated shortstop shortstop Richard Paz.

The Aces added a second score in the inning when reliever Angel Rocha walked in a run with the bases loaded.

Heaston (2-3) was credited with both Aces runs and the loss.

“It’s just been all around,” Heaston said. “We have just been playing bad baseball. We haven’t been pitching well, catching the ball well or hitting the ball well. We are all trying to put it together”

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Peter Rasmussen covers the Edinburg Coyotes for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4448.