PCL1 Fresno Grizzlies

Pill's Slam Keys Grizzlies Comeback

Published on July 17, 2011 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Fresno Grizzlies News Release


WEST SACRAMENTO- As bad as Brett Pill looked in his first two at-bats Saturday night- striking out twice on the minimum six pitches- he came up when it mattered most for Fresno. Pill's towering, sixth-inning grand slam broke a 4-4 tie and gave the Grizzlies their first five-game winning streak of the year with an 8-5 victory over rival Sacramento at Raley Field.

With runners at second and third and one out in a 4-4 game in the top of the sixth, Sacramento (54-39) elected to intentionally walk Brandon Belt to set up a force, loading the bases and bringing up Pill. The right-handed slugger took ball one, then powered the second pitch deep into the Sacramento night for a grand slam, his first of the year and his team-leading 17th home run. It was also Fresno's fourth grand slam of the season, the first since Belt cleared the bases on May 17th at Memphis.

The Grizzlies (42-52) got off to a promising start, as Justin Christian reached on an error and Edgar Gonzalez followed with a single in front of Brandon Belt's RBI-double to left, which plated Christian and moved Gonzalez to third. But Sacramento starter Josh Outman would settle down and strike out the next three batters, limiting the damage to a single run.

Sacramento's offense quickly rewarded their starter, as with Matt Carson at first and two outs in the bottom of the frame, Chris Carter launched a towering shot off the roof of the visiting clubhouse in left-center field to give the River Cats a 2-1 lead. The home side got another two-out, two-run blast from Carson in the third to stretch their advantage to 4-1.

Fresno finally took advantage of the fact that the River Cats were playing Chris Carter, a natural first baseman, at third base for the second night in a row. Carter threw a ball away for an error to allow Max Ramirez to reach safely with one out. Tyler Graham followed with a single, and Justin Christian chopped a ball to the left side that Carter stalled on, allowing it to go over his head and down the line for an RBI double, moving Graham to third. Gonzalez grounded out to score the second run of the inning, and following a walk to Belt, Pill singled through the hole at shortstop to cap the three-run rally, tying the game at four.

The game remained deadlocked into the top of the sixth, when Fresno finally got the offense going against River Cats reliever Vinnie Chulk. Graham led off with a walk and Christian singled on a hit-and-run to put runners at the corners with nobody out. Christian swiped second base, and after Gonzalez' shallow fly out, Chulk (3-3) intentionally walked Belt to load the bases for Pill's heroic blast.

The River Cats inched closer and threatened for much more in the seventh, as a walk and a single put runners at first and second with two out for Carson against Grizzlies reliever Justin Dowdy. Carson ripped an RBI-single to cut the margin to three, bringing up Carter as the tying run. The big righty hit a high fly ball to fairly deep left-center field, but Graham eventually settled underneath it for the third out.

Dan Otero and Marc Kroon combined to record the final six outs, as they have all series long. Kroon came on with two on and one in the ninth and got Carter to ground into a force out and Jai Miller, the potential tying run, to fly to the track in left-center to end it.

Despite not being at his sharpest, Grizzlies starter Andrew Kown survived the requisite five innings of work to notch his league leading ninth victory of the season. Kown (9-6) allowed four runs on the pair of two-run homers, striking out five.

Pill has already surpassed his home run total from 2010, when he hit 16. He is just two shy of his career-high of 19, set in 2009 with Double-A Connecticut. The slam was his first since July 31, 2008 against Rancho Cucamonga while playing with High-A San Jose. Saturday also marked his first five-RBI game of 2011, and the first time he's driven in five since doing it twice in a four-game span in 2010, August 10th at Albuquerque and August 14th at home against Iowa.

Fresno stole five bases on the night, one by Graham, his league-leading 44th of the season. The speedster is just three shy of his career high, set with San Jose in 2008. The Grizzlies continue to pace the Pacific Coast League with 140 for the year as a club, just three shy of their total last year, and five from the single-season franchise record of 145, set in 1999.

In addition to its five-game winning streak, Fresno has also won the last six games in the 2011 edition of the Highway 99 Showdown Series, improving to 8-2 overall against Sacramento this season. Saturday's game was another closely-fought battle, as all 10 games between the teams this year have been decided by three runs or less.

These teams will meet for the fourth and final game of this series and the final time at Raley Field this year on Sunday. The Grizzlies will send right-hander Felix Romero (0-3) against River Cats righty Travis Banwart (4-6) at 1:05pm on getaway day.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from July 17, 2011


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