PCL1 Fresno Grizzlies

Fresno Comes Back To Sweep Sacramento With 7-6 Victory

Published on July 7, 2011 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Fresno Grizzlies News Release


FRESNO- With triple-digit temperatures settling in and the wind blowing out at Chukchansi Park, Fresno suddenly became a hitters haven Wednesday night. The rival Sacramento River Cats took advantage early, but the Grizzlies hammered four home runs to stage another epic comeback in the series finale, sweeping the three-game set with a 7-6 victory.

Trailing 6-4 with one out in the bottom of the eighth, Brandon Belt blasted Fresno's third home run of the night, a no-doubter to right-center field off Sacramento reliever Neil Wagner. Two batters later, Gillaspie finally leveled the score, rocketing his second longball of the night to the manual scoreboard over the right field wall. The Grizzlies (37-50) weren't done there, as Thomas Neal snuck a ball off the glove of shortstop Andy LaRoche up the middle, then took second with some heads-up baserunning to stretch a double. Max Ramirez followed with a two-strike shot to the gap in left-center, scoring Neal with the go-ahead run.

The drama was over with yet, though, as Jermaine Mitchell doubled to open the ninth against Marc Kroon and moved quickly to third on a wild pitch with nobody out. But Kroon buckled down to get Daric Barton to ground out to Brett Pill, Kevin Kouzmanoff to pop up to Gillaspie on the infield and Andy LaRoche to ground out to third to close the third straight one-run victory in this series.

Sacramento (50-36) scored three runs before Fresno starter Shane Loux could record an out, as Mitchell and Barton led off the game with singles in front of a towering three-run home run over the batter's eye by Kouzmanoff. Jai Miller led off the second with another powerful shot to the left of dead-center, giving the River Cats an early 4-0 advantage.

But Fresno used a bit of longball of its own to get back in the game. Gillaspie belted a shot out to right field in the bottom of the second, an inning in which the Grizzlies added a second run on a Justin Christian RBI fielder's choice. Edgar Gonzalez then cut the deficit to 4-3 with a home run of his own to center field, just over the outstretched glove of a leaping Miller. The blast was Gonzalez's second of the series and extended his on-base streak to 41 games, the longest in professional baseball.

The game would remain there until the top of the sixth, when Adrian Cardenas led off by sneaking a ground ball just inside the first base bag the other way into the Grizzlies bullpen, motoring around for a triple. That followed a single and a double in his first two at-bats, giving the second baseman the first three legs of a natural cycle. Cardenas would score on the next batter of the game, as Anthony Recker hit a sacrifice fly to center, putting Sacramento up 5-3.

Fresno cut the lead back to one in the seventh, but failed to level the score. Max Ramirez singled up the middle with one out and Jackson Williams followed with a double to the base of the wall in left-center, sending Ramirez to third. Christian then beat out an infield single to score the run, with Williams holding at second. Major League rehabber Mike Fontenot worked a full count, but grounded into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play, the third twin-killing for the Fresno offense.

That would prove crucial, as the River Cats would use two hits, a wild pitch and two walks to score an insurance run in the top of the eighth. The damage could have been worse, but Marc Kroon struck out Miller and got Matt Carson to chop a one-hopper to Gillaspie at third. He threw to Williams at the plate, who turned the rare 5-2-3 double-play to Pill at first to end the inning, keeping the Grizzlies within two.

Fresno struck back with its three-run eighth, erasing a deficit of at least four runs for the second time in three nights. The Grizzlies have won five of the first seven games in the 2011 edition of this rivalry, which has included five one-run contests.

The Grizzlies continue their homestand as Tucson comes to town for the opener of a four-game set Thursday night. Padres lefty Wade LeBlanc (7-1) takes the hill against Grizzlies righty Josh Banks (5-5) at 7:05pm.

Check out the Fresno Grizzlies Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Pacific Coast League Stories from July 7, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central