Chris Little was served an injustice of the most criminal order Thursday night at Rent One Park. The Southern Illinois Miners' righthander was by all definitions the victim of a robbery in front of 3,935 witnesses.

Little pitched nine innings — a complete game — and gave up just three hits with eight strikeouts and no walks against the Kalamazoo Kings, who somehow hung an undeserved 1-0 loss on the all-star starter with a run unearned in more ways than one.

The lone tally came in the fifth inning. Michael Russell led off with a bloop single to become the Kings' first baserunner of the game. Simon Williams followed with a single to bring up Brendan Murphy, who hit into a tailor-made double play — except for one problem.

Murphy's grounder was fielded cleanly by Miners shortstop Mike Scanzano and tossed to second baseman Mike Victor for a force out, but Williams slid hard directly into the back of Victor's legs, causing him to throw wildly to first base on the turn.

As Victor knelt in pain behind the second base bag, Williams trotted to home plate.
The next batter, Kyle Kmiecik, hit a line drive back to Little, who doubled off Murphy at first base to end the inning. Little gave up just one hit the rest of the way and still saw his season record dip to 5-2.

"That's the best performance I've seen out of Chris in two years," said Miners manager Mike Pinto. "To throw nine innings, give up three hits and have the game turn on a play at second base that could have been an interference, that's a little frustrating."

Little's only other loss came in similar fashion. On June 14, he gave up just four hits and two runs — one earned — after seven innings of work against the Midwest Sliders. He was tagged when the Miners banged out 10 hits but stranded a dozen baserunners in a 4-0 setback, the only other time Southern Illinois has been shut out this season.

Little's luck was even worse Thursday, which ironically was Sports Criminal Night at the ballpark. When told of Pinto's assessment that it was his best outing in the last two seasons, Little thought it over and agreed.

"It definitely felt that way," he said. "I felt very good tonight. I felt like I was in command of the zone. When I needed to throw my off-speed stuff for strikes I was able to do that and keep them off-balance. It probably is one of the better games I've ever thrown."

The Kings, whose 30-18 record is the best in the Frontier League, had their own all-star ace on the mound in righthander John Brownell. He also pitched a complete game, scattering six hits and striking out four with two walks to improve to 8-1 on the season.

The Miners (25-23) had their best shot at Brownell in the first inning. Kevin Koski's leadoff single was followed by Eric Suttle beating out a bunt attempt. After Brad Miller popped out, Tim Dorn drew a walk to load the bases for Joey Metropoulos and Brandon Jones, who both struck out swinging.

Kalamazoo cut down Jones attempting to stretch a single into a double in the fourth and turned double plays in the fifth and eighth innings to keep the Miners off the board. The eighth inning was particularly frustrating as catcher Brendan Akashian led off with a single but was thrown out at second on Victor's bunt attempt, then pinch-hitter Randy Rosa grounded to third base for an around-the-horn twin killing.

"When you're facing a team's ace, you have to execute," Pinto said. "You have to be able to get a runner in from third base. Especially when you have a guy down early. We've seen that with some of our better guys. If you're going to get to Chris Little, you better get him in the first inning or you may not get him at all.

"That was the case tonight with Brownell. He was exceptional tonight. He did a great job. We had him on the ropes and didn't take advantage of it."

Dorn singled with two outs in the ninth and normally would have been followed by Metropoulos, whose two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth sent Wednesday's game into extra innings, but Metropoulos was lifted earlier in the game after suffering a slight groin pull.

Bradley Goldsmith occupied his spot in the batting order in the ninth and grounded out to third baseman Jorge Araiza to end the game, giving Kalamazoo its second straight win in the three-game series between divisional leaders after the Miners won the opener.

In the top of the ninth, the Miners' banged-up infield suffered another blow when Victor strained his left hamstring while diving for Brandon Anderson's grounder. Miners trainer Chris Stone said after the game that the injury was unrelated to the earlier play, but it sure couldn't have helped.

Victor was carried off the field and replaced by usual second baseman Tony Roth, who is attempting to take some time off to recover from back spasms, and was only on the field for one pitch as Akashian threw out Anderson attempting to steal second base after play resumed.

Pinto said the injury to Victor was serious enough that a new undetermined infielder would likely be added to the roster Friday.

Little was surprisingly upbeat after the contest, knowing he had done his part to help the Miners bounce back from Wednesday's crushing 6-2 loss in which Williams hit a grand slam in the 10th inning.

"It was everything I thought it was going to be," Little said. "I wanted to make sure I kept us in the game. Going into it, that was my biggest concern. I knew (Brownell) wasn't going to give up a lot and I knew I couldn't afford to give up a lot. And that's basically what happened. You're not usually going to see a game where both pitchers throw complete games and there are no earned runs in the game. It was definitely a pitchers' dual.

"There wasn't much more I could do. I left it out on the field. That's just where the chips fell. We could have easily hit a home run and it would've been completely different. If we had scored in the first inning with the bases loaded, it could've been a different outcome. But I can't second-guess that. All I can do is say that I went out and did my job the best I could and unfortunately tonight it wasn't enough. But I can live with that."

COAL BITS: Roth told Pinto before Thursday's game that he felt it was in his and the team's best interest if he not participate in next week's Frontier League all-star game. Pinto added Dorn to the West Division team to fill Roth's spot. Dorn was the only player in the league with more than 10 home runs or 35 RBI to not be named an all-star. ... Thursday's loss broke a streak of eight straight wins for the Miners when they outhit their opponents. Six players had one hit apiece in outhitting the Kings, 6-3. ... Although Pinto said the injury to Metropoulos was not severe, he might hold the slugger out of Friday's game as a precaution. ... Despite the loss, the Miners are only a half-game back of first place in the Frontier League's West Division thanks to Gateway losing to Washington and Windy City's game with Chillicothe being suspended.