TRAVERSE CITY -- On Roger Mason bobblehead night at Wuerfel Park Wednesday, it was only fitting that pitching stole the show.
Kalamazoo's Bernard Robert threw a two-hit complete game shutout as the Kings earned a 4-0 win over the Beach Bums.
"I'd definitely consider that my best start, as far as staying focused through the whole game," Robert said. "That was really my goal, to stay focused as much as possible. The last few outings I lost focus a little bit and I didn't let that happen."
Robert moved to 3-1 on the season for the East Division leading Kings (25-13) while the Beach Bums fell to 19-19.
Mason -- a Bellaire native, former major leaguer and current Traverse City pitching coach -- said the Beach Bums didn't adjust to Robert.
"He kept throwing strikes and his change-up," Mason said. "He didn't throw half change-ups, but he threw it a ton. We knew it was coming, but we didn't make any adjustments to it. He doesn't have to make an adjustment until we do, and we never did."
Robert took a no-hitter into the sixth inning when Al Barbato broke it up with a two-out liner to right field.
"You realize when some of the guys don't talk to you," Robert said. "I threw a fastball, he got a hit and after that I just wanted to keep my focus, stay deep in the game and let our bullpen get some rest."
And that's exactly what he did. Robert retired the next nine batters he faced -- with four strikeouts. He gave up a bloop double to Mike Epping in the ninth inning when the ball was lost in the lights, but closed it out by striking out John Alonso for the complete game with seven strikeouts and four walks.
"I threw a lot more off-speed this game," Robert said. "I was keeping them off-balance. And I wanted to get a lot of ground balls here because of the turf."
Getting Robert to go deep was key for Kalamazoo after the Kings threw four pitchers in Tuesday's 9-6 loss. Ben Rue and Scott Reid each worked two innings of relief in the contest.
"That's the job as the starter," Robert said. "You want to get to the seventh, or at least to the sixth. That's where you want to be and I just wanted to keep being efficient."
Kalamazoo jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Simon Williams walked and eventually scored on a Jeff Ruiz fielder's choice.
In the fifth inning the Kings added two more when Kyle Higgins led off with a double and Joseph Ramos singled. The two later came home on consecutive ground out to second base by Tim Brown and Brendan Murphy for a 3-0 lead.
Finally in the ninth inning, Higgins tripled to right center and came home on an RBI single from Ramos to complete the scoring.
David Dinelli started strong for Traverse City by fanning the first two batters he faces, but finished his five-inning outing with six hits, three earned runs, two walks and three K's.
"He woke up this morning sick," Mason said. "We're trying to work him into this, this was his second start after not having thrown for a while. The kid's got a great arm, and once he starts throwing his breaking ball a little more consistently over the plate, he's going to be tough to hit."
After the game, Mason joked about having to make a new shelf to put his bobblehead on. The item was a giveaway to the first 500 fans, showing Mason in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform. Mason was a reliever on the 1993 Phillies World Series team and was in line for the win in Game 6 before Toronto's Joe Carter hit a series clinching home run off Mitch Williams.
"I'm now immortalized, I guess," Mason said. "It's hysterical. When John and Leslye (Wuerfel) talked about this in the wintertime, they said they could do an action figure or a bobble head. I said 'come on, we've got to do a bobble head. You've got to be kidding. Only famous people get bobble heads.' So it's awesome."
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