JetHawks’ Hinchliffe Digs Hole

Brett Hinchliffe is in an episode of the “Twilight Zone.” He keeps finding himself in the same nightmare.

Hinchliffe continued to be unable to make it through a start without one disastrous inning. On Saturday night it was a five-run first, putting the JetHawks in a deep hole before they even touched a bat.

“It’s my fault, I’ve got to make the pitches,” Hinchliffe (5-8) said after the JetHawks lost, 8-6, to the Visalia Oaks at the Hangar. “I haven’t been going out and giving us a chance to win.”

The 5,930 fans who comprised the largest Hangar crowd since the home opener were quieted early.

David Roberts led off the first with a single and Malvin DeJesus lifted a high fly into right field. Scott Smith, playing his first game at the Hangar since a promotion from Wisconsin, lost the ball and it dropped for a double.

“I broke back because they told me the wind blows out,” Smith said. “Then, when I looked back to find the ball, I lost it.”

A run scored on a groundout and another on a wild pitch. Keith Kimsey reached when he hit a ground ball to first base and Hinchliffe, covering the bag, dropped the throw from Shawn Buhner. After a walk to Chris Lemonis, Chris Facione drilled a three-run home run.

“When you give up five runs right off the bat, that puts your back to the wall,” JetHawk Manager Dave Brundage said. “It’s not all Hinch’s fault, but we’ve been talking about these big innings for the last year and a half.”

But Hinchliffe pitched well over the next four innings, giving up only a solo homer to Kimsey, his league-leading 18th.

The JetHawks (1-3) crawled back into the game with two runs in the second and a two-run home run by Jesus Marquez in the third, drawing within, 6-4.

Just when it looked like the JetHawks might reel in Visalia starter Gary Goldsmith and pull ahead, their offense went silent again. Swinging at most everything Goldsmith threw, the JetHawks had only two hits over the next five innings.

And Hinchliffe’s string of solid innings ended in the sixth. He gave up a one-out home run to Del Marine, then a walk and a single before he was pulled.

The JetHawks rallied in the ninth, scoring two runs. They had Smith at the plate as the potential winning run with one out, but he grounded into a double play.

Visalia 8, JetHawks 6

Visalia: 501 002 000 -- 8 10 0

JetHawks: 022 000 002 -- 6 7 1

Goldsmith, Pena (9), Tuttle (9) and Marine; Hinchliffe, Daniels (6) and Wathan.

W--Goldsmith (6-4).L--Hinchliffe (5-8).S--Tuttle (13).

2B: V--DeJesus, Danapilis; J--Carroll.HR:V--Facione (5), Kimsey (18), Marine (11); J--Marquez (9).

Records: Visalia 3-1; JetHawks 1-3.