PCL1 New Orleans Baby Cakes

Flynn Cages Cubs Again in 3-0 Shutout

August 17, 2013 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
New Orleans Baby Cakes News Release


Brian Flynn pitched eight scoreless innings, and Chris Valaika homered as the New Orleans Zephyrs blanked the Iowa Cubs, 3-0 on Saturday night.

Flynn (6-10) needed only 89 pitches to become the first Zephyrs hurler to complete eight innings this season. He scattered seven hits, struck out two and did not walk a batter in winning his third straight decision.

The southpaw lowered his season ERA to 3.00, second-best in the Pacific Coast League to the 2.77 mark by Nashville 's Johnny Hellweg . He now possesses a 1.75 ERA in 11 starts at Zephyr Field, and is 2-0 with a 1.21 ERA in three starts this year against Iowa .

New Orleans was held without a hit on Saturday until Valaika hit a towering homer that carried over the fence in the left field corner for his second home run of the year, both coming in the last three games. He has hit safely in six of his last eight games.

The Z's added two more runs in the fourth, when Gil Velazquez led off with single and Bryan Petersen followed with a double into the right field corner. After Jake Smolinski lined out, Kyle Jensen bounced out to first to score Velazquez.

With Rob Brantly batting, Iowa starter Justin Grimm threw a pitch in the dirt that was ruled a wild pitch, allowing Petersen to score from third. Cubs manager Marty Pevey argued the ball his Brantly in the foot, and was ejected from the game with the Zephyrs taking a 3-0 lead.

Flynn faced the minimum nine batters over his final three frames, getting a double play grounder after a leadoff single by Edwin Maysonet in the seventh, and turned the three-run lead over to PCL saves leader Chris Hatcher, who nailed down his 31st save of the year with a flawless ninth inning.

Hatcher recorded saves in back-to-back games for the first time since July 13-14, and is now two saves away from equaling Ryan Speier's single-season league record for saves.

Grimm (2-3) struck out eight batters without a walk in seven innings, but suffered the loss by giving up three runs on four hits.

The Z's and Cubs meet in the third game of the series on Sunday at 6 p.m.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 17, 2013


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