Daily Fog: A Good Night

That was the easiest post title ever, and this is a good time to use it.

Michael Goodnight (Houston) nearly pitched Y-D’s second no-hitter of the season last night. He needed one more out when Cotuit’s Mike Yastrzemski (Vanderbilt) ended the bid with a single. Goodnight left the game after that, having struck out nine in 8.2 innings. D.J. Baxendale (Arkansas) finished things off as Y-D won 2-0.

Goodnight is in his second summer with the Red Sox. He wasn’t one of the top arms in the league last year but he was very solid. After a pretty good spring with Houston, he was drafted in the 13th round this year by the Indians. Like a lot of guys are doing these days, Goodnight came to the Cape to see what he could do.

He’s been able to do a lot.

In his first start, he allowed four runs in five innings. In his last four, he’s allowed a total of five runs. Last time out, he allowed just an unearned run in 7.2 innings.

Last night, he took things to another level. He retired the first 12 batters he faced before a walk to Brooks Pinckard (Baylor) in the fifth. As noted in the Cape Cod Times, Goodnight turned on his ankle on a pitch in the seventh inning, but gutted through it and stayed in the game.

Though he couldn’t finish off the no-hit bid, he still delivered one of the best pitching performances of the summer — and he helped his team get a big win. With Brewster losing to Chatham, Y-D moved to within two games of the Whitecaps for first place.

And the Red Sox might have themselves a new ace.

Elsewhere

What to Watch

Andrew Gagnon (Long Beach State) will try to improve to 6-0 as Brewster hosts Orleans. Last year, nobody in the league had more than four wins. Nobody has had more than six since another Long Beach State pitcher, Jared Hughes, in 2005.

RELATED POSTS