Citizen Staff Writer
KEN BRAZZLE
kbrazzle@tucsoncitizen.com
There is no denying the Tucson Sidewinders are playing better these days, but it hasn’t been enough to get them out of last place.
The Sidewinders (26-42) have played around .500 ball in recent weeks and won three of four on the road in Fresno during that time.
Fresno is in third place in the four-team Pacific Coast League South Division, seven games ahead of Tucson.
“Before (losing the past two nights) we had (won) nine of 15. I’ll take that every time,” said Sidewinders manager Bill Plummer, whose team fell 5-1 to visiting Sacramento on Thursday.
“At home we’ve won seven out of 10. We’ve played better. We had to because we were (2-17 early in the year).”
Tucson is here for eight games during this homestand. The Sidewinders split the first four games with PCL South leader Sacramento.
Sacramento leads Tucson by 15 1/2 games.
Tucson has four home games with Colorado Springs, the first game Friday at Tucson Electric Park.
“We’re still trying to recover from that 2-17 start,” Plummer said. “(After that), you have to play almost .600 ball to get back to .500 and we haven’t been able to do that.”
Tucson is 24-25 since the early troubles.
Tucson’s hitters have come around, and Evan MacLane has joined Yusmeiro Petit and Billy Buckner in making the starting pitching rotation stronger.
“The last three weeks have been better and that’s a start,” Plummer said. “The guys haven’t quit. They’re doing what they can.”