PL Idaho Falls Chukars

Helena Hampers Chukars' Bats in 5-2 Loss

Published on July 20, 2012 under Pioneer League (PL)
Idaho Falls Chukars News Release


Helena Hampers Chukars Bats in 5-2 Loss Chukars go 6 innings without a hit while dropping game 2

Friday night's game looked good early for the Chukars, but following a second inning run the Greybird bats were shutdown by the Helena Brewers for the next six innings en route to a 5-2 loss at Kindrick Legion Field.

The Chukars knocked around three hits, including a solo homer by first baseman Rainier Bello, in the first two innings and looked to be picking up where they had left off from Thursday's win. Starting in the third however, Helena reliever Brent Suter absolutely shut down the Idaho Falls bats as he retired 15 in a row, part of 16 straight sat down by the Helena staff, and kept the Chukars without a hit until the ninth inning.

The Brewers bats meanwhile jumped on Chukars starting pitcher Spencer Patton early, with second baseman Chris McFarland launching a 2-run homer in the first to put Helena up 2-0. Following the Bello solo shot in the top of the second, the Brewers responded with single runs in both the second and third to push their lead to 4-1.

Starting in the fourth inning however, the Brewers offense would go into a prolonged slump as well as Patton settled in and reliever Matt Strahm tossed two hitless innings to keep the game 4-2 going into the 8th. At one point it was the Helena offense that had 13 of 15 batters retired and went four innings without a hit.

The Brewers would tack on another single run in the eighth off of Chukars reliever Joe Lopez to make the score 5-1 heading into the ninth. Suddenly in the 9th, the dormant Idaho Falls offense woke up and proceeded to load the bases with only one out for catcher Jin-Ho Shin. The South Korean catcher homered the night before, but struck out in Friday's situation to pass the scoring onus to Jared Schlehuber. Schlehuber kept the game going with an infield, RBI single to bring up DH Parker Morin with the bases still loaded and the Greybirds down 5-2. The comeback would end there though, as Morin grounded out to second base to end the game.

No Chukar batter finished with more than one hit, as Ethan Chapman went 1-3 with a walk and a run scored while Bello finished 1-2 with his second inning homer after being pulled for Schlehuber in the 4th.

Patton (0-4) took the loss for the Chukars after allowing four runs on six hits over his five innings pitched. In a trend reversal from previous starts, the General struggled early but got progressively better as the game went on. Suter (2-2) earned the win for the Brewers after his excellent relief out of the pen. The lefty ended the game with six innings pitched, allowing just the ninth inning run on three hits and six strikeouts.

With the loss the Chukars fall to 13-18 while the Brewers improve to 11-20. The two teams will meat up again for game 3 of the four-game series Saturday night at 7:05 pm.

Check out the Idaho Falls Chukars Statistics

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Pioneer League Stories from July 20, 2012


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