The Las Vegas Stars played yet another sloppy offensive ballgame, but this one had a twist.
After repeatedly stranding runners in scoring position, failing to execute the sacrifice bunt and grounding into four rally-killing double plays in the first six innings, the Stars scored four unearned runs in a five-run seventh to overcome a 4-1 deficit and hold on for a 6-5 victory over the Tucson Toros Wednesday night at Cashman Field.
The win increased the Stars' lead in the Pacific Coast League Southern Division to three games over the Toros and Albuquerque Dukes and four games over the first-half champion Phoenix Firebirds with 25 games remaining in the regular season.
"It's a win and to win (the division), we have to have our wins," an exasperated Jerry Royster said after the game. "Don't ask me what I think about it -- I think the win is very important right now."
The Stars had outhit Tucson 10-7 through six innings yet still trailed 4-1 as the Toros belted three home runs off starter Pete Smith (8-8) to account for all their runs. Tucson added a solo home run in the ninth off reliever Russ Swan.
"I guarantee you, people are going to get tired of me talking about it but we have not played very good situational offense all year," Royster said. "We've just been bad ... bad at-bats in key situations.
"It's just a grind every day but the one thing I will say is the guys just keep going at it. Paul Russo was having a horrible day and he comes through with a big, big base hit."
Russo, who struck out twice and grounded into a double play in his first three at-bats -- including taking a called third strike with the bases loaded in the sixth -- came through with a clutch two-run single with two outs in the seventh that put the Stars ahead.
But the offensive standouts for the Stars were two players Royster probably wasn't counting on to provide much offense -- backup catcher Craig Colbert, who was hitting .238, and shortstop Rico Rossy, who was hitting .237. Both players went 4-for-4 to pace the Stars' 16-hit attack.
The veteran Colbert, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games, has played in only 53 of the Stars' 115 games but said he accepts his role as Sean Mulligan's backup.
"Coming in, I knew Sean was going to get the majority of the time because he's the prospect here," Colbert said. "I just try to stay sharp -- Jerry's done a good job of letting me know when I'm going to be playing, so mentally I can get ready to catch the next day."
Not even Colbert could have imagined that he would come up with a four-hit game -- his first of the season -- although he said he has been swinging the bat well during batting practice. Despite taking a nine-game hitting streak into Wednesday's contest, Colbert had only nine hits during that span.
"I've been swinging good -- even with one hit a game for nine games in a row -- but I feel good in batting practice and I was swinging good enough where sooner or later I was going to get a couple hits in a game," he said.
Colbert, who is in his 11th season of professional baseball and second with the Stars, said he has never seen a team struggle offensively as much as the Stars. Las Vegas is hitting a paltry .263 as a team, but even more shocking is the fact the Stars are hitting only .242 with the bases loaded and don't have a grand slam in 91 chances this season.
"We really do struggle at it, but I think the more we understand that those things have to be done in certain situations, the more we'll get it done," Colbert said. "I think now that we've put so much emphasis on it -- which is good because we need to do that -- I think some guys are trying too hard.
"Instead of taking a step back and saying, 'Hey, I've done this before,' I think some guys are putting too much pressure on themselves to do it, not realizing that they've done this all their lives."
Riccardo Ingram added three hits for the Stars, including an RBI double in the sixth that tied the score at 4, and Paul Abbott struck out the only batter he faced in the ninth and picked up his second save in as many nights.
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