Kai Murphy does a lot of things well in the outfield. He’s fast, is above average with the glove, and is a master of the fundamentals. Until Saturday, he hadn’t had much of a chance this season to show off another tool he possesses, his sneaky strong left arm. In the top of the eighth inning of a tie game on Saturday night, Utah decided to test him. It didn’t go well for the Utes.
Murphy charged on a two-out base hit and scooped the ball up in stride. Utah’s Alex Baeza rounded third and scampered towards home as the go-ahead run. Murphy’s one-hop dart from right field arrived in plenty of time, and Ryan Campos applied the tag without drama to keep the game tied. The dramatic out was all the momentum ASU would need, as the Sun Devils put up three runs in the bottom of the eighth on their way to a 6-3 series clinching victory over Utah.
“That’s just something you prepare for before the play; I was positioning myself in the gap,” Murphy said. “I was just focused on securing the ground ball first. Then I just let it go, and Campos made a great tag.”
Murphy led off the eighth immediately after making the play, and he seemed to still be amped up from it. After smacking a line drive into short left center, he was thrown out at second, attempting to stretch his third knock of the night into an extra base hit.
“I went from way up to being calm and in the zone, to way back up again,” Murphy explained. “I grew up with their left fielder, and I told him I was gonna run on him today. Of course, he got me; we’ll text about it tonight.”
As costly as it seemed at the time, Murphy’s teammates were able to pick him up. Will Rogers doubled on the next pitch before scoring the go-ahead run on a Sean McLain two-out single. The decisive knock was contagious, as Campos and Baez followed with run-scoring singles of their own to give ASU the final three-run cushion.
“Proud of the guys and the way they responded. I have no problem with kai trying to stretch that into a double; in a way, I think it woke us up a bit,” Willie Bloomquist said. “McLain got a big hit off their sidearmer, who’s been really good. I’m happy, and I’m proud tonight.”
It hasn’t always been perfect, but it’s fair to say at this point in the season that Kyle Luckham has been Arizona State’s best and most consistent starting pitcher this season. He showed why on Saturday night. Aside from a three-run second inning, Luckham was nearly perfect. The Cal-State Fullerton transfer right-hander struck out six Utes over seven innings pitched, allowing just the three runs on seven hits.
Literally, every ASU pitcher has run into prolonged trouble at some point in this season; Luckham has been an exception. He had a poor outing at Oregon State and an ejection shortened appearance at Stanford; other than those two blemishes, he’s given the Sun Devils a chance to win every game he’s started.
“We work all offseason and into the season to be able to (go deep into games),” Luckham said. “It definitely feels good to bounce back and give the team all I had for these seven innings.”
Just as it did on Friday night, Arizona State jumped out to a 2-0 lead, this time in the bottom of the first. Sean McLain stayed hot with a one-out single up the middle, and he was driven in by a Ryan Campos double. Campos’s knock wasn’t your conventional RBI two-bagger. The one-hop shot glanced off the glove of Utah shortstop Matt Richardson and trickled into no man’s land in shallow left center. McLain never put on the brakes, racing all the way to third and scoring from first on a ball that didn’t go further than 200 feet from home plate.
"Oh ya, I wanted to score the whole time,” McLain said. “I thought Goffy wasn’t going to send me,” McLain said. “That left fielder was pretty lazy on that ball, and I took advantage of it.”
Utah’s three-run second inning gave them the lead, but it was short lived. ASU answered by manufacturing a run to tie it in the bottom half. Cam Magee picked up an RBI on a groundout, plating Will Rogers who came around after drawing a leadoff walk.
The bats went silent on both sides after six total runs were scored in the game’s first two innings. Neither team scored until Arizona State broke the tie in the eighth. Their three two-out runs come on the heels of a 19-run performance on Friday in which nine runs were scored with two outs. For a team with a losing record, the Sun Devils sure do seem to have a clutch gene.
It’s easy to get caught up in the heat of a May postseason race and all that comes with it this time of year. During his postgame press conference, Bloomquist’s wife and two of his daughters were in attendance. Not only did they ensure that his answers would be eloquent and honest, but he also took some time to shoutout the importance of his support system on the eve of Mother’s Day.
“I’d say this even if she wasn’t here, but I have a champ back there who’s pretty special,” he said with a grin. “I wouldn’t have taken this job without her undivided support. I can’t say enough about the job she does at home. And I can’t say enough about my family because this job wouldn’t matter without them in my corner.”
Perspective, it is key. Arizona State goes for the sweep Sunday at noon.
