Grizzlies Lose on Walk-off Homer
June 8, 2024 - Frontier League (FL)
Gateway Grizzlies News Release
Québec City, Québec - The Gateway Grizzlies lost to the Québec Capitales on a walk-off, two-out, two-strike home run by Jesmuel Valentin on Saturday night by a final score of 4-2 at Stade Canac, evening up the weekend series at one game apiece.
The game was scoreless through the first four innings as both Tyler Cornett and Ryan Sandberg were at their sharpest. Both starters allowed just one runner on base in the first half of the game, with Sandberg issuing a walk in the third, and Cornett allowing a leadoff single in the first inning before retiring the next 13 Capitales batters that he faced, including six on strikes.
Québec broke through in the fifth inning when Jonathan Lacroix hit a go-ahead solo home run to make it 1-0. They added to their lead in the sixth against Gage Vailes when Guillermo Garcia hit a two-out, two-strike RBI single up the middle to score Valentin from second base and make the score 2-0 Québec.
Gateway, who was no-hit until the top of the sixth inning when Abdiel Diaz singled to right field, would get even in the top of the seventh. Peter Zimmermann doubled down the third base line, and on the next pitch by ex-Grizzlie Jackson Sigman, Jack-Thomas Wold tied the game with a two-run home run to right field.
Gateway was able to keep the score tied in the seventh and the eighth, with Alec Whaley and Nate Garkow holding the Capitales off the board by stranding the potential lead run in scoring position. In the ninth, against Matt Hickey (1-1), Jake MacKenzie walked with one out to put the winning run on base again, but was picked off by Hickey for the second out.
Marc-Antoine Lebreux, however, extended the inning by singling off Diaz's leaping glove at shortstop, and on a 2-2 pitch, with the game one strike away from heading to extra innings, Valentin walked if off with a home run to right field, dealing the Grizzlies the heartbreaking loss.
Gateway will look to bounce back and conclude their long road trip with a win on Sunday, June 9, in the rubber game of the three-game series in Québec. Deylen Miley will pitch in the finale against the Capitales' James Bradwell, with first pitch at Stade Canac scheduled for 4:05 p.m. CT.
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