Piechowski, who was lights out through much of the first half of the season as a setup man but has struggled a bit in the second half (now 2-2, 3.33) will take the mound Friday at Sussex for his first professional start. It’s something team president Dan Duquette has mentioned as a possibility in the past.

“I said ‘Dan, I don’t know if he can do it, he’s beena reliever for a long time,’” Daubach said. “He’s one of our better pitchers,and when we’re losing a lot of games, you don’t get the value of Piechowski and (closer Juan) Padilla at the end of games. So why not start him?”

Daubach said he went to Piechowski about the idea recently but “he wasn’t wild about it.” But, he said, after a couple of bad outings — he gave up a three-run triple to Worcester’s Lucas Taylor in a 4-3 loss on Monday — he relented.

“He’s willing to do it, so we’re going to give him a shot,” Daubach said.

“It should be a good time, I’m going to give it a shot,” Piechowski said. “I think it was more of a mutual thing. We haven’t had the same starting rotation all year…We’ll see what happens.”

Piechowski said he uses a fastball and slider in relief, “but as a starter you’re going to see the lineup a few times. I’ll probably throw some changeups and mix it up a bit.”

That’s been Duquette’s point all along.

“He has three pitches,” Duquette said. “And he’ll have a chance to use all his pitches. Plus he’ll benefit from the mound time.”

Nick Asselin (6-6, 4.37) pitches Saturday and another reliever-turned-starter, lefty Rob Riley (1-0, 5.83) pitches on Sunday.

—- TOM KING

A win Thursday means three out of four from the hottest team in the league and it could begin the run the team needs to keep its slim playoff hopes alive.

“If we have any thoughts of making the playoffs,” Defenders manager Brian Daubach said, “tomorrow is a huge game.”

 Thanks in part to catcher Zane Chavez, it is a huge game. Chavez hit his first home run as a professional on Wednesday, a mammoth three-run blast deep into the trees in right field,to highlight a four-run Defenders third inning. He also knocked in a run in the second with an RBI single. All in all it was a 3-for-4, four RBI night.

“He’s worked hard, and it’s starting to pay off and he’s starting to get some confidence at the plate,” Daubach said. “I know it’s finally good to get that first homer on the board. He’s been fighting it a little bit, he’s hit some good balls either in the wrong parks or the wind’s blowing in. He finally got one on the board and it was a big one. It’s as far as we’ve seen all year.”

“I’m just trying to hit the ball hard,” said Chavez, who went into the game hitting .280 with 11 RBI in 39 games.  ”Get a pitch that I can hit hard and get a run in. Just hit the ball hard somewhere. I think we have a chance, just like anyone else has a chance. We’re hitting the ball well, playing good defense, and if we keep doing that, we should be able to win some more games.”

Chavez helped make a winner out of Miguel Flores (5-1), who gutted out five innings on three days rest.

XXXXXXXXX

Worcester was without first baseman Chris Colabello Wednesday and could be on Thursday as well, as the former Nashua Pride slugger suffered a pulled hamstring on Tuesday night.

—- TOM KING

“That’s the plan right now,” Defenders manager Brian Daubach said when asked if Riley would join the starting rotation. “For not being stretched out, to go five innings, was awesome. After the first inning, he only gave up one hit. Next time out, I hope he can do the same thing. I wish he’d do that every start, it would give him some confidence and he could come back next year.”

Riley said Daubach hinted on Monday night that he might be asked to start Tuesday’s game, but he didn’t find out for certain until he got to the park on Tuesday.

“You always have to be ready to go,” Riley said. “It just allows you (as a starter) to get in a little better rhythm, get prepared, you have a total focus that the game is yours and you have to go out there and perform. We’d been going through a rough stretch. I tried to go out, keep the guys in the ball game, and that’s what happened.”

Riley said he settled down and found that rhytym after the first inning. “It was just about slowing down and finding a nice little rhythm,” he said. “(Catcher Zane) Chavez did a great job behind the plate, we were on the same page the entire night. I didn’t have to get a different grip with any of the pitches. I had a grip, he called it, we were right there, and it all worked out.”

XXXXX

They’ll be a special post-game  Thursday night fireworks show tomorrow night (Aug. 6) thanks to the rainout last Friday….

Scheduled pitchers for Thursday are Defenders righty Alex Woodson (1-1, 4.34, another reliever turned starter) vs. Worcester RHP Jusef Frias (3-2, 5.96).

– TOM KING

Defenders scheduled starting pitcher Luis Valdez’ elbow was bothering him to the point where he had to be scratched before the game. And after his replacement, lefty Rob Riley, gave up a two-run homer to old friend Chris Colabello in the first inning, it didn’t look good. Asked what he was thinking when he saw Colabello’s ball sail over the left field wall, Defenders manager Brian Daubach said, “We’ve been down this road before.’

Ah, but this road took a different turn. Riley settled down to pitch five innings of three hit ball, walking three and fanning two.  And Jabe Bergeron, whose back is bugging him so much he couldn’t sleep the night before, smacked two homers, with three hits and four RBI. He still has only six homers and 32 RBI on the year.

“To be honest, if you told me I was going to have the night I had tonight, I would have said ‘I don’t know’” Bergeron said. “I think the results have been better (than earlier in the season) but I wouldn’t say I’ve been feeling that great. My back…honestly, hitting has been pretty good. But you put me out there, I can’t even bend over on some ground balls with infield.

“But we had to back (Riley) up. His first start of the season, he threw great. He turned in a game. He set the tone.”

“He’s done whatever we’ve asked all year,” Daubach said. “He’s played the outfield. Pitched long relief. Matchup situational lefty. Came out and started, gave up a two-run homer in the first but one hit the rest of the way. i don’t know what more you can ask for…It only goes as far as your pitcher takes it. But he was aggressive, his tempo was really good. He was able to get through five innings and get a big win. Good for him.”

Indeed, it looked like a mound mismatch. Worcester lefty starter Ryan Lobban came in leading the Can-Am League in wins with eight and the Defenders have struggled vs. southpaws all year,  but in 6.1 innings he allowed all eight Defender runs on 11 hits. But New Hampshire has hit him in the past.

Can Bergeron continue with the pain? He’s going to give it a try, and why not? One of his homers sailed over the wall and 401 foot sign in dead center.

“I remember him hitting balls in center field last year (with Ottawa),” Daubach said. “I remember one that went over the batter’s eye. That’s the first one I’ve seen him hit (this year) like that in center field. It sure is good to see. Now the guys in the middle of the lineup are all swinging the bat pretty well at the same time. The middle of the lineup is righthanded, no reason for us to be struggling against lefties.”

Bergeron is taking anti-inflammatories to try to ease the pain from bulging discs. He wants to play a couple more years and doesn’t want surgery to slow him down in the off season.

“I really want to continue throughout the off-season this year,” Bergeron said. “We’ll see.”

– TOM KING

At the heart of the matter Monday is the decrease in command of former lights out reliever Adam Piechowski. Piechowski gave up a bases loaded, base-clearing triple to Tornado Lucas Taylor in a four-run Worcester seventh inning. That turned a 2-0 lead into a 4-2 deficit.

“His command’s not as good, he’s not getting as many swings and misses,” Defenders manager Brian Daubach said of Piechowski. “He’s gotten some rest, we were using him quite a bit for awhile, but I don’t think that’s the case any more. He’s not making quality pitches. He’s missing in the zone. His command is not what it was when he first started this season.”

This was a game the Defenders, who have marked this as a huge series as Worcester has jumped out to the early second half lead at 10-4, could have won. They had the bases loaded with one out in the ninth and plated just one run. They muffed a squeeze in the sixth. And they had their ace, Nick Asselin, on the mound, cruising up 2-0  until he gave up three singles in the seventh. Enter Piechowski, who appeared to be the Piechowski of old when he fanned Jeff LaHair for the second out. However, Omar Pena’s infield dribbler loaded ‘em up and Taylor gapped a pitch in right-center.

“Good teams win those games,” Daubach said. “We just need to get a win like that and get on a run.”

The wait continues, and the Defenders are running out of time.”

– TOM KING

“He was our number two starter going into the season and I really thought he’s be one of the better pitchers in the league,” Defenders manager Brian Daubach said. “I think he lost a lot of confidence. And today he really wasn’t himself at all. He was aiming the ball, and when he did throw it over the plate he had no velocity on it. And I think he pretty much agreed. It wasn’t a big surprised.

“It’s always hard. Hopefully he can get his mindset back, maybe get a chance to go somewhere else or back here next here or something. It’s always hard when you release a good kid like that.”

The team had to make a move after the first game because they signed righty Francisco Serventes in between games to start the nightcap and had no roster room. Serventes didn’t disappoint, checking the Jackals on two runs on four hits over five innings. He’s earned himself another start — but Daubach’s not sure when that will be. If he’s rested by Sunday, fine, if not, the Defenders will go with bullpen start by committee, Daubach said.

“He did a good job,” he said. “And the thing that stood out is he did a good job holding runners, something we’ve been struggling with, too. Held runners, threw strikes, showed a good slider, he’s definitely somebody we can win with.”

On the plus side, how about the three straight scoreless appearances by Defenders reliever Cooper Brannan? He looked like a bust until late last week, and he now looks more like the pitcher the San Diego Padres saw when they signed him a couple of years ago. He saw in a couple of ways, one through a photograph, that he was opening his front side.

“Once I started closing it out and feeling a good landing with my front foot, everything started coming out real good and I had better command,” Brannan said. “I just made that big adjustment.”

“When he pitches to contact, he’s been like he has been lately,” Defenders pitching coach J.P. Pyne said. “When he tries to do too much, when he’s not finishing pitches, he becomes very hittable because everything is up in the zone. So he’s done an awful lot of work on the side, and with that he’s earning more and more responsibilites, because we have to make decisions with this bullpen. The guys that go out there and throw strikes, the guys that get ground balls and compete, they’re going to see their share of the repsonsibility go up.”

So pencil in Brannan and Lucas Ledbetter, who pitched a 1-2-3 sixth in the nightcap, as being Daubach’s two primary middle inning bridge to the Adam Piechowski/Juan Padilla closing tandem.

And then, of course, there’s the dramatic back-to-back homers by Angel Molina and Chris Kelly to salvage a split Wednesday and give the Defenders at least a 2-6 homestand. Hey, it’s better than 1-7.

“We’ve battled most of the time all year in close games,” Defenders first baseman Jerod Edmondson said. “We never think we’re really out of it. We feel we have guys who can drive it out of the park as you can see…Just to ge one under our belt. Now we’re going out on the road (Brockton and Worcester). Hopefully we can keep building, four, five, six in a row.”

FYI, The Home Base will take another few days vaca break and be back soon.

– TOM KING

Maybe he’ll get some volunteers from the local cigar bar that filled the Firepit area behind the visitors bullpen on Monday night. Daubach wasn’t too thrilled, understandably, after his team blew an early 3-0 lead an bowed to the New Jersey Jackals again an announced crowd of 1,012.

“The sixth and seventh innings are up for grabs,” he said after watching Miguel Flores produce a quality start for seven innings and then see the bullpen cough up four Jackals runs in the eighth. Luis Ramos was the main culprig, walking two (one intentional), hitting a batter and allowing a hit to be charged with all four runs in taking the loss (4-4). The runners he allowed Alex Woodson to inherit all scored as Woodson himself gave up two hits to produce the runs.

Once again, poor pitching kills this team.

“The bottom line,” Daubach said.

It looks now like the club is going to add a pitcher in time for Wednesday’s 11:35 a.m. start, and will move Lucas Ledbetter back into the bullpen. Daubach had success earlier with the Ledbetter-Adam Piechowski-Juan Padilla combo.

“At least with Luc, he know he’s going to throw strikes and give us everything he’s got,” Daubach said. “It’s sad, but that’s where we’re at. We need somebody who can throw a strike. In a tie game, you can’t walk guys. They’re going to bunt, and then you’re one swing away from losing the game every night. Make them get two or three hits.”

Clearly, Daubach is incredibly frustrated with his pitchers’ inability to throw strikes. The team , which really only walked two unintentionally last night, has now issued 214 free passes on the season — compared to 227 strikeouts. Compare that to New Jersey, for example, which has 320 Ks and just 129 walks. No wonder the Jackals won the first half.

“When we got on that run, with Lucas pitching well, I know he prefers starting, but right now he’s too valuable in those sixth or seventh innings. That’s where we’re at.” 

Flores pitched well, giving up six hits over seven innings. “He kept us in the game,” Daubach said. “Bottom line is it’s 4-4 in the eighth inning. It’s what we do. Last two nights we’ve tried everybody. just about everyone in the bullpen’s given up a run.”

Is the bullpen finally wilting under the pressure of having to relieve ineffective starters night in, night out (Monday  one of the exceptions)?

“The bullpen isn’t under any pressure. We’ve carried 12 pitchers all year. Bottom line is we’re the only team in the league with 12 pitchers. For that reason. We have seven guys in the pen. We have an extra guy. So that’s no excuse. All the guys we use are fresh.”

— TOM KING

His six-inning, one-run performance in NH’s 10-1 win on Saturday night before a crowd of 1, 858 that snapped a 12-game Brockton winning streak said so.

“Nick’s really coming around,” Defenders manager Brian Daubach said. “Nobody else has stepped up. He’s been huge every time, especially his last three starts. We really needed it…He came out there and just did the job.”

What’s separated him from the pack, besides his ability to throw strikes (two walks last night, just 13 walks in 60 innings? It’s his cut fastball, which has righthanders waving.

“Seven-eight years ago, everybody went to the split finger,” Daubach said. “Now, the last two or three years, it seems the cutter has become the pitch. And Nick’s cutter has really come along. I know he didn’t throw one before he came here.”

So why is he doing it now? He learned it from Defenders closer Juan Padilla.

“For righties, especially first-pitch fastball guys, it’ll get them to check or hit it off the end of the bat,” Asselin said. “And then for lefties, it looks like a fastball coming, it gets in on them, and they can’t do anything with it.

“Before coming here, it would always back up on me. He (Padilla) and I just worked on the side together, and it’s been getting a lot better and getting the right movement on it.”

“It’s good he would go to a veteran guy,” Daubach said. “Use your resources. Nick’s smart enough to know that Padilla’s been around. It’s good.”

How does Asselin, whom Daubach didn’t feel had his best stuff in the early innings Saturday, feel about being ordained the ace?

“I like being the one to be counted on,” Asselin said. “It’s a couple of pitches away from some other guys (like Lucas Ledbetter on Friday) getting some really quality starts. One or two pitches to get those guys out…That’s the big thing. When you get into jams, you need to battle yourself out. That’s the biggest thing, just being able to really focus in and get the job done when there’s runners on base.”

And on Saturday, he did that, leaving a runner at third in the first and getting Dom Ramos to strike out looking with the bases loaded in the second, and the Rox left runners on first and second in the third. After that, NH was up 8-0 and, as Daubach said, “This is the first time we’ve cruised to a win in about a month.”

And thus the first half ends for New Hampshire at 21-26.

– TOM KING

What happened? He even struck out the first Brockton hitter of the fateful inning, Dom Ramos. But eventual bombs by Palmer Karr (three-run shot) and Melvin Falu (two-run blast) spelled his exit.

“Maybe I should have gotten him out of there earlier,” Defenders manager Brian Daubach said. “He pitched so good, I was trying to get him through an inning. I probably shouldn’t have let him face Falu, so I’ll take the hit on that one.”

It’s too bad, because starting pitcher has been this team’s Achilles Heel and every night it seems to haunt it. “The big inning,” Daubach said.

Despite 15 hits, the Defenders left 11 men on base, including the bases loaded in the fourth and two in scoring position in the fifth. “With the pitching we have, we have to take advantage of those,” Daubach said. “Here it is, it’s only 2-0 (Defenders up), we should have been in control of the game…the crowd was in the game, it was a good crowd for us. Big inning again, it’s tough.”

It’s been so tough the Defenders are using relievers Adam Piechowski (setup) and Juan Padilla (closer) in losing situations because they need the work. Daubach was so desparate to stop the bleeding down 5-2, he summoned Piechowski, normally the eighth inning setup man, in the sixth. And he struggled, giving up two runs on two hits over 1 1-3 — allowing a two-out, two-run double to Keith Brachold in the seventh.

“He could have got us into the eighth inning, probably,” Daubach said. “Brachold put a tough at-bat on him and won the battle, so to speak.”

And, so did the Rox, now winners of 12 straight. Freddy Flores raised his record to 2-1 despite giving up three runs on nine hits. Besides Zane Chavez’ 3-for-5 night, another Defenders highlight was the debut of newly signed rookie reliever Pat Driscoll, who tossed a scoreless eighth.

What do the players think?

“It feels like we’re facing every starting pitcher on his best night of the year,” left fielder Greg Lemon said. “Guys are going six, seven scoreless innings against us and a run here and there. It’s tough, we just have to keep trying to play hard and do the best we can…and some offenses are hot against us right now.” 

– TOM KING