Coyotes' mini-streak ends

EDINBURG – Before Friday night’s 4-3 loss to Amarillo, the Edinburg Coyotes were winning because of their bullpen and offense.

On Friday, the offense didn’t do enough to help the bullpen bail out starter Miliade Venas, who only pitched 3 2/3 innings to take the loss.

“We couldn’t make an adjustment. We kept trying to pull the guy,” Coyotes manager Vince Moore said was his team’s approach to hitting Amarillo left-handed starter Micah Posey, who went six innings and allowed only one run for the win. “It’s still early. When a pitcher like that is doing that well, usually the team’s going to do well because the offense doesn’t make an adjustment. I just think that’s what the problem was (Friday).”

Posey, who only struck out three, wasn’t getting the Coyotes out because of his stuff. Instead, he kept the heavily right-handed Coyotes off balance, allowing only four hits.

Edinburg first baseman Daryl Jones, whose first-inning RBI single gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead, said Posey was “hitting his spots.”

“He kept everything down and he wasn’t really overpowering,” Jones said. “He did a pretty good job on locating his pitches.”

Venas, though, didn’t do that. In his first start, the right-hander walked six batters. Two of those walks came in the fourth, an inning in which the Coyotes allowed three runs to give Amarillo a 4-1 lead. 

There were, however, other issues for the Coyotes in that inning. The Dillas scored one run on an error by catcher Jason Arrowood, who tried to pick a runner off second but threw when nobody was covering. Arrowood was also charged with a passed ball that allowed another run to score.

“We lost the game on defense, which hopefully, coming into the season, watching our team I didn’t think we were going to lose too many games because of our defense,” Moore said. “But I think we did that (Friday).”

Despite the problems, the Coyotes still had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs and a runner on second, center fielder Nick Aranda flew out to end the game.

Moore said the Coyotes bullpen, which hasn’t been charged with a run in 14 1/3 innings, was why his team still had a chance late.

“Hopefully they continue to do that,” Moore said of a group that threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings. “That’s one of the key things in baseball for a good team, is to have a good bullpen. I think my bullpen is pitching strong.

“It gave us a chance to win. That’s what a bullpen’s supposed to do.”

Brian Sandalow covers the Edinburg Coyotes for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436. For this and more local stories, visit www.themonitor.com.

Friday’s United League Linescore
DILLAS 4, COYOTES 3
AMA    001     300     000 —   4       5      0
EDB     100     000     101 —   3       6      2
Posey, Rodriguez (7), Koons (7), Jackson (9) and Wenger; Venas, Martinez (4), Maschino (7) and Arrowood. W — Posey (1-0). L —Venas (0-1). Sv — Jackson  (1). HRs — None