9th-Inning Long Ball Looms Large in 6-5 Loss
August 22, 2013 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release
OMAHA, Neb. - Entering the ninth inning tied 5-5, a solo homer by Nick Green handed the Omaha Storm Chasers (65-67) a series-opening loss to the New Orleans Zephyrs (66-66) by a score of 6-5 for their third straight defeat. Combined with a Memphis win tonight against the Iowa Cubs, and the Chasers' American Conference Northern Division lead to 2.0 games with 12 games remaining.
The long ball by Green, his team-leading 11th on the season, came after the Storm Chasers made a comeback in the seventh inning with back-to-back long balls by former Zephyrs Brett Hayes and Gorkys Hernandez off reliever Jonathan Albaladejo, who had given up only one home run all season. Hayes also had a solo shot in the fifth inning, and now has a team-leading 13 round-trippers on the season as well as four of the five multi-homer games for Omaha in 2013.
Left-hander Danny Duffy, coming off his impressive start against the Detroit Tigers last Friday, gave up four runs (two earned) in five innings of work while totaling eight strikeouts. Duffy came out for the sixth and loaded the bases without recording an out, setting up a disastrous sixth inning that included two errors on routine groundouts after Duffy exited leading to four runs in the frame. Despite the subpar outing, Duffy has only allowed four earned runs in his last five games as a starter for Omaha over 22.0 innings while striking out 28 in that span.
During the game the Chasers became only the 12th team in their time in the PCL dating back to 1998 to reach 1,100 strikeouts in a season by punching out 11. The 1,100 strikeouts and counting is already a team record, and the league record (as far back as 1964 when team strikeouts were recorded) is 1,228 by the Iowa Cubs in 2001, meaning Omaha would need to average 10.75 strikeouts per game to set a new league record.
The second game of the series tomorrow will feature two of the premiere left-handers in the PCL this season, as Chris Dwyer (9-10, 3.52) faces off with New Orleans' Brian Flynn (6-10, 3.00). Both southpaws rank in the top-five in the league in ERA, and this pitching duel is set for a 7:05 p.m. start.
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