Aaron Scheffer picked up his fourth straight win in relief Sunday. He improved to 5-1 and moved into a tie for second place in the California League in wins.
By CHRIS BRANAM
Valley Press Staff Writer
LANCASTER - The Buhner brothers can't get their timing down.
Shawn Buhner, who had a homer and two doubles in the JetHawks' 11-7 win over Lake Elsinore Sunday, is off to the best start of his pro career.
His older brother Jay is batting .208 with five homers and 21 RBI for the Mariners. His slump has the Seattle radio waves buzzing.
This situation didn't happen often last year when Shawn struggled to a .209 average in just 69 games with the JetHawks while Jay had 44 homers and 138 RBI.
"I have five homers and I'm hitting over .300," Shawn Buhner said, "and he has five homers and he's hitting .208. It just goes to show you that I'm not a home run hitter.
"He has five and he's struggling," he added.
If history is any indication, Jay's slump is about to come to an end. Shawn will be in attendance tonight at Anaheim Stadium when the Mariners play the Angels.
According to Shawn, every time he's seen Jay play over the last two years Jay has gone on a homer barrage.
"He'll be raking pretty soon," Shawn said.
Shawn Buhner almost had two homers in the same inning Sunday, when his two-run homer touched off an eight-run seventh. The JetHawks went into the at-bat trailing 4-2 and ended up taking a 10-4 lead.
Buhner's homer easily cleared the center field wall, and after the JetHawks had batted around, he hit a drive that landed on the warning track in center and bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double.
In the two games prior to Monday, Buhner raised his batting average 28 points, to .328. He had back-to-back three-hit games for the first time this year.
"This is the highest I've been in professional baseball," Buhner said. "It's been so long since I've been an everyday player. I'm so thankful (Seattle) gave me the opportunity."
That's a relief
Aaron Scheffer picked up his fourth straight win in relief Sunday. He improved to 5-1 and moved into a tie for second place in the California League in wins.
Scheffer has a 3.48 ERA and 15 strikeouts in his last five outings. He's unbeaten since a loss on May 4 at Visalia in which he gave up four earned runs in three innings.
Other highlights from Sunday included:
Yuni Kim's solo homer in the seventh, his first homer since April 27.
A 2-for-4 performance by Carlos Villalobos that extended his batting streak to a team-high 13 games. Villalobos was batting .366 through Sunday, good for third in the league.
Another double by Chris Dean, who had a string of six straight games with a double entering Monday's game. Dean batted .500 last week (14-for-28), lifting his average to .359.
Seventh heaven
The JetHawks' eight-run rally couldn't have happened in any other inning.
Lancaster had scored 55 runs in the seventh this season, more than any other inning.