Blues fall in rare, tough loss

Redwood City (14-5) took a 2-1 lead after one inning on Burr's towering home run over the left field fence. But Martinez (3-6) responded with a six-run, second-inning outburst, highlighted by a Chris Bowker home run and Brandon Smith's two-run single.

The Blues added four runs in the third to cut their deficit to 7-6, but didn't score the rest of the way. Ryan Cavan and Nathan Adelman drew back-to-back walks leading off the third and both scored on Tony Sackman's single. Jon Finley followed with a two-run homer to left.

The Cubs added an insurance run in the sixth, and starter Steve Tannehill did the rest, tossing six innings of four-hit ball. The key point of the game came in the bottom of the fifth, when Redwood City had runners at second and third base with one out. Tannehill got Sackman on a strikeout and induced a groundout from Finley to end the threat.

"Steve did a good job today of competing," Martinez coach Mike Carmona said. "He gave up some runs and stayed strong. I liked how our team responded when they had their big inning. They applied pressure but we stayed focused. We've lost a lot of close games this year so it's nice one went our way."

Blues starter Brandon Jennings took the loss. He went five innings and was hit hard in yielding nine hits and seven runs. But he settled down, retiring the side in order in the third and fifth innings and allowed just one hit after the second inning.

"Brandon got the ball up and they pounded it," Redwood City coach Tim Goode said. "But he responded well and that was important. That's the type of effort you want to see. We haven't done a good job of hitting for the last week, 10 days. A lot of guys are struggling right now offensively, but who cares? They know how to hit and they'll figure it out. As long as we're hitting when the (Area) tournament comes around, we'll be fine."

Redwood City was outhit 10-4. Martinez committed two errors to the Blues' one. Ricky Dooley, Ryan Ward and Bowker had two hits each. Some nifty Redwood City defense kept the score close.

Third baseman Finley, first baseman Garrett Anderson and catcher Doug Hansen combined to make several stellar plays that preserved runs. Redwood City and Martinez play again on July 6 at College Park High School. The Blues, who sit in second-place in the District 26 standings, have eight league games left, including two against first place San Mateo and a pair against third place Palo Alto. They play at Gilroy in a key Sunday doubleheader starting at 11 a.m.