Chukars use successful challenge to cap comeback against visiting Mustangs
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IDAHO FALLS — One constant in sports is, the argument amongst fans as to whether or not one play — one call — can alter the outcome of a game.
On Friday night, the Idaho Falls Chukars may have put that argument to bed — at least for the nearly 2,500 in attendance at Melaleuca Field.
With one on, two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the sixth, and Idaho Falls trailing, 11-8, Chukars designated hitter Trevor Rogers tapped his helmet after being called out on strikes. The gesture meant he believed the call had been made in error and initiated a challenge review.
The Billings Mustangs had begun to leave the field before the announcement was made that the strike call had been overturned on the challenge, and Rogers remained in the batters box.
He immediately lined the next pitch he saw into right field for an RBI single. Left fielder Jacob Shanks followed him with a booming game-tying two-run homer to left-center.
The Chukars (8-3) scored once more in the eighth to secure a 12-11 comeback victory over the Mustangs (3-7).
Chukar manager Troy Percival said that the successful challenge “Absolutely” altered the outcome of the game.
Shanks agreed.
“It’s just a huge momentum swing,” he told EastIdahoSports.com. … “And when it gets overturned and someone does something with it, it works out perfect.”
The post-review rally was capper on what had already been a heroic comeback from the hometown nine.
Billings slugged Chukars starter Nathan Hemmerling, homering four times off the right-hander and saddling him with 10 runs in just 3 innings pitched. Heading into the fourth inning, Idaho Falls trailed, 10-4 — with all four of their runs coming on a first-inning grand slam off the bat of right fielder Grady Morgan.
The proverbial worm began to turn when two-way player Chase Hanson replaced Hemmerling on the mound to start the fourth.
Hanson, who splits time between the mound and outfield, struck out two Mustang hitters in his 2 innings of work, allowing just one run — forced in on a balk. Percival said that Hanson’s limited experience as a pitcher played a major role in the decision to use him in that situation.
A guy who had pitched just 1 inning last season, Hanson was green enough to focus on execution rather than situation.
“He doesn’t know any better,” Percival said. “He just started pitching. He’s going out there and doing his best stuff.”
Hanson, the skipper added, was his player of the game:
“He gave us a chance to get back into the game.”
Shanks concurred, calling Hanson’s appearance “huge.”
“If he gives up runs there, it might deflate us,” he said.
Once the game began to get tighter, Percival lifted Hanson in favor of some more experienced relievers — Connor Butler, Robert Hughes and Ricky Tibbett (W, 1-0). The bullpen combined to eat 6 innings while allowing just one run on three hits and a walk.
“I can’t say enough. They did a great job,” Percival said of the bullpen.
Behind their lights-out bullpen, the Chukars began to chip away with a single run in the fourth — on an Anthony Mata RBI fielder’s choice groundout.
They added three more on RBI hits from Shanks, Morgan and Tyler Wyatt, in the fifth.
Then came the sixth inning, when Rogers kept hopes alive with a successful challenge of a called strike three.
According to Shanks, this was Rogers’ third success on three challenged calls already this season — in just 11 games. His combination of a great eye and being “dialed in” at the plate has the entire team believing that a tapped helmet form the DH means that the call was, in fact, incorrect.
Rogers’ single knocked in Mata, who was seemingly involved in every Chukars rally from his lead-off spot.
And it was Shanks who put the game right back where it started, when he crushed a massive home run off the top of the scoreboard in left-center field.
“When you hit it and you don’t feel anything, that’s when you know you got it,” Shanks said, adding that he believes Friday’s homer to be the furthest he’s hit a baseball in his life.
In-stadium tracking measured the homer to have traveled nearly 440 feet, according to Chukars GM Chris Hall.
The left fielder credited new pitching coach Garry Templeton Jr. for working with every hitter and putting them in the best position to succeed.
Some credit, he added, goes to the frustrations of last season, and the players in the clubhouse not wanting a repeat performance from 2024.
“The boys are just locked in. We lost a lot last year, so we just want to win,” Shanks said. “Down like that, if this was last year’s team, we were going to roll over. But these boys want to hit. We’re hungry.”
Idaho Falls pushed the game’s final run across in the bottom of the eighth, and once again Mata was involved.
The Chukar shortstop led off the inning with an opposite-field single. After stealing second, he was knocked in on a one-out single by Johnny Pappas.
Tibbett, who took over for Hughes with two down in the eighth, slammed the door with a perfect ninth, striking out a pair.
“Our bullpen is electric,” Shanks said. “I think, this year is for sure going to be a year where, even if we’re not mashing, the bullpen is going to keep us in the game. … Our bullpen is — they’re going to be something to watch out for.”
Percival, a former MLB All-Star reliever, offered a similarly glowing review of his relief corps. But, he added, with injuries to four Chukar pitchers and the departure of starter Logan Mercado, who signed a Minor League contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the cupboard is looking a little bare.
“I’ve got five pitchers down in 10 days, so we are scrambling,” the skipper said.
But, Percival added, team chemistry is excellent, and every pitcher who is available is open to any and all appearances — whatever it takes to win, he said.