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Beavers, limited to three hits, ride Quintero's ninth-inning homer to victory

June 20, 2004 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Portland Beavers News Release


PORTLAND, Ore. - Struggling at the plate at times this season, the Beavers perfected the art of sticking a square peg into a round hole Sunday afternoon.

Xavier Nady, Ben Risinger and Humberto Quintero each had home runs--Portland's only hits in the game--and the Beavers squeezed the most they could out of a 5-4 victory over the Fresno Grizzlies in front of 6,079 at PGE Park.

It was Quintero's solo blast to the opposite field, his third of the year, that ended the game in the bottom of the ninth after Fresno tied the game in the top of the inning.

The Beavers (34-37) matched a season high with their fourth straight home win and their third overall.

Quintero was met by a crowd of teammates as he crossed home plate with the winning run, but the celebrating came a half-inning later than expected after Jason Ellison whistled a game-tying home run off the top of the concrete wall in left field against reliever Lou Pote to knot the game at 4-4 in the top of the ninth.

The Beavers were fortunate to have grabbed the lead in the bottom of the eighth. With two outs and the game tied at 3-3, right fielder Todd Linden dropped a line drive off the bat of Jose Nieves, allowing J.J. Furmaniak to score all the way from first base with the go-ahead run.

That lead was short-lived, however, thanks to Ellison.

The win went to Pote (2-2), who gave up Ellison's homer in his first appearance with the Beavers. Lee Gardner (5-3) surrendered Quintero's deciding blast for the loss.

The loss overshadowed a nice performance from Fresno starter Ryan Jensen, who was charged with four runs (3 earned) on two hits and four walks over 8.0 innings. Jensen gave up a two-run shot to Nady and a solo homer to Risinger in the second inning, but he settled in to retire 10 straight at one point.

In the second inning, Brian Dallimore, who tallied three hits, had a one-out single and Francisco Santos drilled a two-run home run to right-center field off Justin Germano for a 2-0 Fresno lead.

All three of Santos' home runs this season have come against the Beavers in the last 11 days; he is batting .429 with 11 RBIs in eight games against Portland.

Nady, continuing his torrid pace since rejoining the club on Friday, sent a two-run shot onto 18th Street well beyond the left field wall to tie the game in the bottom of the second. Nady has four home runs in his three games back with the Beavers after a stint with San Diego recently.

Later in the second, Risinger gave the Beavers their first lead with a solo home run, his first of the season.

Jensen settled down to retire the side in order in innings 3-5 and again in the seventh.

Germano, however, ran into trouble in the sixth, allowing consecutive singles to Dallimore and Santos, and hitting Trey Lunsford with a pitch to load the bases with one out. Craig Kuzmic poked a single into shallow right to score Dallimore with the tying run, chasing Germano, who struck out six in his 5.1 innings. Still with the bases loaded and two outs in the inning, Furmaniak, the Beavers shortstop, made a superb diving stop of a grounder up the middle by Ellison, regaining his composure to dribble the ball to Risinger at second base for a force out to end the threat and preserve the tie.

The Beavers get a shot at their first series sweep of the season in the series finale Monday night at PGE Park.

NOTES: On Sunday, the San Diego Padres optioned right-handed pitcher Dennis Tankersley to Portland ... Risinger's home run was his first since July 30, 2003, when he hit a game-winning grand slam vs. Sacramento ... Fresno's Jamie Athas left the game in the second inning after he was struck in the arm with a pitch from Germano ... Bart Miadich, who spelled Germano in the sixth, struck out four of the five batters he faced in 1.2 innings of relief work ... Adam Shabala, Linden and Lunsford each struck out three times ... the Beavers drew 12,445 in two games over the weekend ... Fresno dropped to 31-40.



Pacific Coast League Stories from June 20, 2004


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