Brownell, bullpen beat Wingnuts

Published on July 16, 2011 under American Association (AA)
Grand Prairie AirHogs News Release


GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas -- Saturday's game at QuikTrip Park looked just like Friday's, with the team in red scoring early and getting great starting pitching to beat the team wearing black. The only difference is that on Saturday night it was the Grand Prairie AirHogs who were dressed in red, and beat the Wichita Wingnuts 6-3 in front of 3,172 fans.

John Brownell (8-2) did not allow a run until the seventh inning, struck out nine and allowed only five hits, as the AirHogs (40-19) built an early lead against Chad Sherman (2-2) and the Wingnuts (32-28). The rookie righty walked three in the first inning, and Greg Porter made him pay with a two-run single to put Grand Prairie on the board.

In the second, the AirHogs knocked Sherman out, getting a leadoff walk and then three straight one-out hits, before Cesar Nicolas's sacrifice fly and Porter's second RBI single forced Kevin Hooper to bring in a reliever after Sherman got just five outs.

Like the AirHogs' bullpen on Friday, the Wingnuts' bullpen did not give up any runs the rest of the way, but Brownell and the Grand Prairie bullpen made the 6-0 lead hold up. After tiring and giving up three in the seventh, Bo Schultz got the final out on a flyout from Tommy Fitzgerald, before Jon Fulton pitched a scoreless eighth and Jon Hunton worked a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts for his league-leading 16th save.

The win was AirHogs manager Ricky VanAsselberg's 300th in his five and a half seasons of managing, against just 218 losses, for a win percentage of .579.

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