By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
Dallas Mahan is living up to his reputation as the singular Hawaii Stars pitcher drawing no luck, tough luck or hard luck every time he takes the mound, but his Old Man and the Sea story took a backseat to something far more frightening.
In the ninth inning, Jensen Torres, a recently acquired Hawaii catcher, was leveled by Zack Pace in a home-plate collision, remaining flat on his back for 20 minutes until he was carted off by the fire department to an ambulance, raising his right arm to the crowd.
Mahan gave a quality start again, but the San Rafael Pacifics beat him and the Hawaii Stars 3-2 in a North American Baseball League game on Wednesday night at Wong Stadium.
The Stars (19-19) and first-place Pacifics (25-13) play the third game of a six-game set at 5:35 p.m. today at Wong.
In the ninth, Mahan beaned Steve Detwiler with a breaking ball. Pace replaced him as a pinch runner and was sacrificed to second base. Steve Boggs singled to right field, and Hawaii’s Steve Tedesco scooped up the ball and fired a bullet to Torres.
Torres caught the ball cleanly, looked up and saw a freight train coming, and Pace, intending to dislodge the ball, plowed into him with the force of an NFL-type collision — a brutal but legal play in professional baseball. Torres dropped the ball and the run scored.
He was taken to the hospital. Stars general manager Frank Hecomovich said Torres was showing some movement, but had no other details. Hawaii assistant general manager Karen Chaves accompanied Torres to the hospital. Regular catcher Brenden Davis is out with a hand injury. Adam Jacobs is the only other catcher on the roster.
After play resumed with two outs and Boggs on third, Mahan hit Johnny Woodard with another slow breaking ball (his fourth hit batter of the game), getting pulled for closer Roman Martinez.
Maikel Jova reached on second baseman Dion Pouncil’s third error, pushing the score to 3-1, a necessary run because the Stars staged a mini-rally in the bottom of the ninth, which was abruptly short-circuited.
In the bottom of the inning, Arnoldo Ponce doubled off Julian Arballo, then Matt Hibbert singled and Ponce scored on third baseman Henry Calderon’s throwing error, cutting the score to 3-2 and giving the home team a tablespoon of late-drama hope.
With two outs, Reece Alnas singled to second base, but Chase Fontaine snagged the ball and Hibbert, who thought the grounder went to the outfield, tripped while trying to go back to third base.
Hibbert — the tying run — was tagged out at third base, and the game was over, giving Mahan (0-6, 3.46 ERA) another loss. In 8 2/3 innings, he surrendered three runs (two unearned) on seven hits and no walks, and struck out seven.
Arballo picked up the win with two innings of one-run relief. At least he has a win, unlike Mahan, who has produced five quality starts (at least six innings and three earned runs or fewer) out of his eight starts. But he has nothing to show for it, except perspiration and the distinction of knowing a good job was done.
It was a contrast of pitching styles between the two starters. Mahan, 34, is 6 feet, 3 inches and a left-hander with a fastball that won’t get ticketed for excessive speed. Jake Rasner is 6-4, right-handed and possesses a fastball that screams heater or hard cheese, the definitions for high velocity.
Rasner, a seventh-round draft pick of the Texas Rangers in 2005, left with a no-decision after seven innings of one-run ball. He allowed five hits and one walk, and struck out three.
Mahan, a 35th-round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners way back in 1996, struck out seven, more than twice as much as the harder-throwing Rasner, showing that a philosophy of keeping hitters off-balanced works equally as well as overpowering them.
In fact, if the key to hitting is timing and the vice versa of that is upsetting timing while pitching, Mahan put his Old Man and the Sea wisdom to work in the fourth, escaping a bases-loaded pickle with one out. He struck out No. 8 hitter Detwiler looking, and retired Chad Bunting on a comebacker.
An error of the Steve Sax disease variety cost Mahan an unearned run in the fifth inning by Pouncil, his second error, following a harmless miscue an inning earlier.
With two outs in the fifth, Woodard dribbled a routine grounder to Pouncil, who resembled Sax, a former Los Angeles Dodgers infielder, infamous for throwing flat-footed and sidearm, occasionally resulting in sinkers that turned into errors.
In any case, Pouncil, who’s from Illinois, looked exactly like Sax whether or not he watched Dodgers games back in the day. Anyway, sometimes a small error will grow teeth, bite you and it hurts.
Then Jova, who extended his hitting streak to 37 games with a single on an 0-2 pitch in the fourth, singled again. Fontaine followed with a run-scoring single to left, scoring Woodward, who hustled safely home ahead of left fielder Keoni Manago’s throw.
Jova went 2 for 5, maintaining his .380 batting average, and Fontaine was also 2 for 5, the only Pacifics to pair hits.
Tedesco batted 1 for 4, extending his hitting streak to 16 games. He’s batting .313. Hibbert and Alnas each went 2 for 4, each figuring in the unfortunate ninth.
However, most victims of no luck, tough luck or hard luck eventually see their misfortune evaporate even if it takes decades as diehard fans of Boston Red Sox Nation know — unless you’re the Chicago Cubs, of course.
Under a windless, moonlit night with Tahitian drums providing background music, a small slice of athletic justice was delivered to Mahan in the bottom of the fifth when Anthony Williams walked, stole second and scored on Alnas’ sharp single up the middle, tying the score 1-1.
It stayed that way, until the ninth inning rolled around. Torres’ injury overshadowed Mahan’s losing streak and the blown tying run, bringing a somber as attention immediately turned to the new catcher’s health.
Pacifics 000 010 002 — 3 7 1
Stars 000 010 001 — 2 8 3
