Game #78: Zephyrs Win 4-3

Just as Mr.Z ventured to publicly call out the Zs for being incapable of surmounting deficits, they build a fence with single runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings to dramatically squeak by Nashville on the road for a morale-lifting W.

Bryan Petersen, Neil Wilson, and Danny Richar (who had replaced Donnie Murphy) all had clutch two-out RBI hits to cap late-inning rallies off Nashville's bullpen, sparking the Zephyr offense to a rare comeback win. Nashville starter Chuck Lofgren had limited what has recently been a painfully lethargic Zs offense to one run on Donnie Murphy's solo home run in the 2nd, his 12th of the season.

Zs starter and Shreveport native Sean West was solid again in six innings, and seems to be recapturing the potential that Florida saw in him last year, when he was a member of their rotation for 20 starts. West struck out seven and gave up just two runs, though he left behind by a run. When New Orleans tied the game at 2 in the 7th, Nashville answered immediately. Mr.Z fave Adalberto Mendez (the stats are becoming less incredible -- regression to the mean is a bitch) was greeted by Mat Gamel by a loooooong bomb to tie the game. But the Zs showed Mr.Z something in the 9th when they pieced together a rally from a dropped third strike wild pitch (Dawkins), a bloop forceout fielders choice (Luna), and Richar's huge two-out double.

The bottom of the 9th was Benitez time and was pleasantly uneventful, as the big man showed a live fastball and easily shut the door. This was one of those you file under a "team win" but Mr.Z is doling out tonight's HUGE Z to Richar for clutchness.