6-21 Coach's Corner: Q&A with Rick Magnante

Media Relations intern Colin Mairet sat down with Beloit Snappers manager Rick Magnante to discuss Friday night's doubleheader against the Clinton LumberKings

First game back from All-Star break, what'd you think of your guys tonight?

Magnante: Well I thought it was Jekyll and Hyde, in the first game we were anemic at the plate. We couldn't escape the big inning, that chronic big inning. We didn't play defensively very well, either. We didn't have any errors that showed up in the box score but instinctually we weren't very good on balls we should've made plays on, which extended innings and eventually cost us runs.

Junior Mendez went five scoreless innings in that second game, how big was his performance?

Magnante: That was great, he comes out there with a very competitive attitude and he gets after it. He kept the hitters off balance, he threw strikes, and he was efficient with his arsenal and gave us five scoreless. We gave it away there in the sixth inning and allowed them to tie the ballgame and of course Mathews' home run was huge, as it ended up being the difference in the game. But then we were able to tack on a couple of runs after that. It was a big night for Melvin (Mercedes), a couple of triples and a run scored. Overall, he certainly contributed. But for the first, call it eleven or twelve innings, we were pretty anemic at the plate. So, maybe we knocked the rust off a little bit. I think it was good we were able to, once again, come back in a ballgame and show that we have the resiliency and heart to compete and find a way to win. And then, Avila came in and it certainly wasn't a save situation, but he was clean in the seventh inning and finished the ballgame.

The bottom of your lineup has been producing recently - (Luis) Baez is on an eight-game hit streak, (B.J) Boyd just ended a seven-game one and (Phil) Pohl has been hitting well - how important is it for those guys to get hits?

Magnante: Any time that bottom third of the order allows you to turn it over and get back to the top of the order, that's huge. If you can move the line so to speak, and keep getting at-bats and extending innings, it really gives your hitters a much better chance to compete and produce.