Garcia muscles Captains back into win column

Published on August 8, 2009 under American Association (AA)
Shreveport-Bossier Captains News Release


SHREVEPORT, La. - Christopher Garcia started his season as mostly a singles hitter who drew quite a few walks. But recently, the 21-year-old has begun to show more of his power, and after a two-run homer in the series opener, Garcia hit like the number-three hitter in the lineup Saturday night, bashing a pair of three-run doubles to lead the Captains to a 10-6 win over the Grand Prairie AirHogs with 2,765 looking on at Fair Grounds Field.

Luke Massetti (7-2) scuffled through 6 1/3 innings, but managed to pick up the win, his third against Grand Prairie (38-39, 15-14 2nd half) this season. The righty allowed 10 hits and all six runs, but struck out six, and perhaps most importantly, did not walk a batter.

However, Massetti fell behind early, with Chad Gabriel, Derek Nicholson and JB Tucker lining three straight one-out hits to score a run, with Nicholson coming in when the throw to the plate on Tucker's hit got away from catcher Tommy Bryant. After Massetti retired Jonathan Dziomba, Aaron Garza laced a double just inside the leftfield line to give Grand Prairie a 3-0 lead.

The Captains (38-38, 16-12) came back in the third against starter Jose Cordero. With one out, Angelo Fermin singled, and moved to second when the ball got by Garza in right. Fermin then stole third, before Bryan Sabatella walked and stole second. After Richard Paz drew a free pass to load the bases, Garcia smashed his first three-run double to dead center, tying the game at 3-3. After Andres Rodriguez struck out, Jose Torres singled on a 3-1 count against new pitcher Lee Gronkiewicz, who was just signed earlier in the day, to bring in Garcia with the go-ahead run.

After a scoreless fourth, Massetti gave up the lead in the fifth, as Cesar Nicolas belted his 12th home run of the year, a two-run, two-out blast to left that gave the AirHogs the lead back at 5-4.

But after Gronkiewicz settled down and got Grand Prairie to the sixth, the Captains made Alex Morales (2-4) pay for his wildness. The hard-throwing righty walked Selwyn Langaigne to start the inning before Jonathan Reynoso's full count single put runners on the corners with no outs. Tommy Bryant then took a called strike three from Morales, bringing up Fermin with one out. The shortstop dribbled one to the left side too slowly for a double play, and Nicolas tried to throw home to get the hustling Langaigne. But the veteran outfielder slid around Tucker's tag to tie the game at 5-5. After a strikeout and another walk to Paz, Garcia ran into a 2-2 fastball to left-center, just eluding Chad Gabriel's glove to clear the bases and restore Shreveport-Bossier's advantage.

Massetti left after allowing a run in the seventh on three hits, with Nicolas coming to the plate and the tying runs on base. In from the tired Captains bullpen came Robert Romero, who had allowed a single and a home run to Nicolas in three previous at-bats this season. But the league's leader in RBIs grounded to second on a 3-2 pitch, and after a walk to Javier Brito, Romero struck out Chad Gabriel on a high fastball to end the inning.

Shreveport-Bossier tacked on two more runs in the seventh on hits by Langaigne and Sabatella, and Romero pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Justin Dowdy came on to get a 1-2-3 ninth, retiring Nicolas on a line drive to third to end the game, and give the Captains their second win in their last nine games, keeping them two games in back of Pensacola in the 2nd half South Division standings.

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



American Association Stories from August 8, 2009


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