Photo Courtesy of Dom DeTorres

Courtesy of Alex Espinoza, Yuma Sun Staff Writer

All you could see were two cleats and a cloud of dust. It was attached to Jose Canseco.

The 47-year-old former Major League star has been a regular on the baseball diamond this summer for the Yuma Scorpions, but even he was surprised with his hustle in Friday's 8-2 win over the Lake County Fielders at Desert Sun Stadium.

That's not to say he's about to challenge Usain Bolt to any foot races.

“If I shot him in the leg I still wouldn't win,” Canseco said.

Asked the last time he ran around the bases that hard, Canseco responded, “1942.”

To see Canseco go full bore from first to third in the seventh inning was certainly entertaining, but it wasn't his magnum opus of the evening. In the third inning, he lumbered into home from second base on an RBI single from Jared McDonald. Canseco was laughing and visibly winded after touching the plate, even putting his arm around 52-year-old teammate Tony Phillips for some support on the way back to the dugout.

“He knows I can't hustle because I can't run. I'm too old,” Canseco said. “But I can't scream at him for not running because he's too old.”

Between them, Phillips and Canseco are 99 years old with 35 years of big league experience. When also considering Joey Gathright and Willy Aybar, the top four batters in Yuma's lineup on Friday toted 46 years of MLB knowledge.

“We have experience up there, guys who know how to handle the bat,” Canseco said. “It showed tonight.”

McDonald's two-run hit tied up the game, before Yuma dominated the final six innings. Meanwhile, newly acquired Scorpions righty James Garcia settled down after giving up a two-run homer in the top of the first. He gave up two runs on five hits and three walks to the Fielders (27-23) while striking out four over six innings of work to earn the victory.

“We just got to hold them a little bit,” Canseco said of his pitchers. “We've got a good offense. Let us catch these guys and score you some runs.”

Yuma (19-35) tacked on another run in the fourth and took a 4-2 lead in the sixth, when Arnoldo Ponce launched a deep home run to left field. With three more runs in the seventh, the Scorpions put the game away for good. McDonald went 2-for-3 with a walk, a run and four RBIs to lead the Yuma offense.

The Scorpions also got some quality defense on the evening, namely from Gathright. The six-year MLB veteran delivered a one-hop strike from center field to nail Lake County's Franklin Lopez at the plate to end the top of the fourth, before making a great running catch in the top of the seventh.

It's been a hectic couple of weeks for Canseco as he's darted from Canada to Illinois to Maui with the team and made a couple of road trips to Tucson. The Scorpions will host Maui Na Koa Ikaika for a five-game set to end up the homestand, but will be heading to Chico, Calif., on Aug. 1 to start a 30-game road trip.

“By the time we settle down, we're going to be on the road again,” Canseco said. “It's a tough schedule.”

Along with a victory, fans got a chance to see a fireworks show after the game. The crowd, announced as 1,876, was easily the largest of the season.