After Sunday afternoon’s Western Canadian Baseball League contest against the Melville Millionaires, Moose Jaw Miller Express pitcher Michael Borst can tell you all about it.
Borst turned in one of the most impressive performances on the mound in recent years, throwing 10 innings and giving up only one run on three hits while striking out seven. That included a no-hitter through five innings and only two hits through seven.
Problem is, Melville’s Tanner Solomon and Chris Lacher were just as good. Solomon gave up only two hits over seven innings – one of those a solo home run off the bat of Geordie McDougall that tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh. Lacher took over the next inning and went the rest of the way, giving up a single hit.
And that would be enough to take the win out of Ross Wells Park, as Evan Moore belted a two-run home run off reliever Cole Warken in the top of the 11th to give the Millionaires a 3-1 victory.
“My arm feels okay, I’m sure tomorrow I’m going to regret it,” Borst said after the contest. “But I’m just glad we were close to winning, we’re making strides every day and we just have to trust the process, for sure.”
As has been pointed out in his previous appearances, Borst isn’t a pitcher by trade. A short Miller Express bullpen pressed him into service, and the results had been positive leading up to Sunday’s outing.
“I don’t know what it was, I just wanted to come out here and put on a show for the fans,” Borst said. “The connection I have with Marcus (Melendez) behind the plate is something I’m really thankful for. He’s a great guy and he’s really good at calling games… one thing we worked on in the bullpen before was just filling ‘er up and I was lucky enough to take it that far. Then I left one pitch up over the middle to a kid who can hit it pretty good. You just have to move on and do just as well next time.”
The one problem with Borst on the mound is it takes his bat out of the line-up – and as one of the WCBL’s top hitters through the first month of the season, that’s a tough stick to miss.
“Earlier in the season when I pitch and hit at the same time I was extremely sore the next day,” Borst said. “So I talked to the coach and said ‘hey, let's have (Blake Gallagher) DH, we can save his arm and he can hit for me and we can take it from there.’ I’ll be back on the stick on Tuesday either in the field or as the DH and we’ll go from there. Anything this team wants me to do, I’ll do.”
Darrell Doll and Doug Farrell had the only other Miller Express hits.
The game marked the fourth meeting with Melville in a week, after falling 1-0 and winning 5-0 on June 18 and taking a 9-1 win June 19.
Every other game was rained out, meaning the Express will play doubleheaders in Yorkton on July 12, in Weyburn on July 14 and at Ross Wells on Aug. 4.
