PCL Sacramento River Cats

Cats Topped by One in Seesaw Battle with Chihuahuas

August 28, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Sacramento River Cats News Release


EL PASO, Tex. - The Sacramento River Cats traded shots with the El Paso Chihuahuas during the finale of their six-game set, but El Paso landed the final blow with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to take an 8-7 victory on Sunday.

It looked as if the River Cats (55-70) were set up for a big inning to open the contest, scoring once on a sacrifice fly by Trenton Brooks after a pair of leadoff walks to Bryce Johnson and Mitch Haniger. Sacramento would go on to load the bases, but with two outs were unable to capitalize.

Immediately the Chihuahuas (55-71) responded, using a pair of hits while also benefitting from three Sacramento errors to score a trio of runs. A Ray-Patrick Didder blast put El Paso on the board first, while a pair of miscues by Brett Wisely on consecutive plays both came around to score later in the inning on a single by Taylor Kohlwey.

After a Max Schrock leadoff triple in the second pushed El Paso edge to 4-2 in the second, both teams traded a run in the third starting when Brooks doubled with one out and crossed home plate two batters later on a single up the middle from Johan Camargo. The Chihuahuas countered using their own pair of doubles to stay ahead, 5-2.

That scored held until the top of the fifth, when the newly entered Tyler Fitzgerald stepped into the box with two on and one out. Down in the count 0-2, Fitzgerald found a way to connect and sent a ball out of the yard for his 17th homer of the season, tying the contest at 5-5.

During the sixth the River Cats pulled back in front for the first time since the game's beginning, loading the bases with a pair of walks and a hit by pitch. While they scored one run on a groundout from Brooks, two more groundouts helped the Chihuahuas escape further danger.

Three batters into the home half of the inning and El Paso reclaimed the lead, as a Schrock leadoff single again led to a run when Daniel Johnson homered on a 1-0 pitch to make the score 8-7.

For a second time in the game Sacramento leveled the score, doing so in the eighth when David Villar crushed an opposite-field homer on a full-count pitch. Villar joined Fitzgerald as the second River Cat to come off the bench and hit a home run in the contest, as the former had entered the game in the bottom of the seventh for Haniger as a defensive replacement.

Unfortunately, the tie was short-lived as the Chihuahuas received a third Schrock leadoff knock to put a man aboard and moved his pinch runner, Tim Lopes, into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Two batters later and Lopes crossed as the go-ahead run, scoring on a single to left from Didder.

The El Paso bullpen was the difference in the contest, working four innings and allowing just two runs on two hits. Though he was also charged with a blown save, Jared Koenig (4-4) was the winning pitch after he allowed one of the two runs and both hits by El Paso relievers. For a second straight day Ray Kerr was the final Chihuahuas hurler to appear, this time in a save situation where he worked a clean ninth with a strikeout for his 10th save of the season.

Charged with the loss was Sean Hjelle (2-6), responsible for three runs on six hits with three walks and punchouts in 3.2 innings of work. He took the baton from Miguel Yajure, who had also gone 3.2 innings and yielded five runs (only three earned) on five hits with two strikeouts.

In his first game back with the River Cats, Camargo earned a multi-hit night by going 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Armando Alvarez extended his hitting streak to a season-best eight games with a knock in the top of the first before finishing 1-for-4 with a run, batting .371 (13-for-35) over that time.

Following a travel day Monday, the River Cats will return home to host the Albuquerque Isotopes in their penultimate homestand of 2023, beginning a six-game set from Sutter Health Park on Tuesday at 6:45 p.m.

Check out the Sacramento River Cats Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from August 28, 2023


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