One Is Enough - Grizzlies Shut out Slammers
August 6, 2024 - Frontier League (FL)
Gateway Grizzlies News Release
Joliet, Ill. - The Gateway Grizzlies managed just one hit in the game on Tuesday night against the Joliet Slammers at Slammers Stadium, but it was an RBI single by Gabe Holt that ended up scoring the only run of a 1-0 shutout victory as the Grizzlies got back in the win column.
A tremendous pitcher's duel on paper between Deylen Miley (7-3) and Geno Encina (4-3) was proven to be accurate in real life as well. Miley would break first, surrendering the game's first hit on a Jonathan Sierra single in the fourth inning, but that would be the only run the Grizzlies' right-hander permitted in six, outstanding shutout frames. He walked three batters and struck out eight in the contest, running his league-leading total up to 124 for the season.
Encina was even better in the early going, retiring the first 11 batters he faced before Peter Zimmermann walked with two outs in the fourth to break up the perfect game. In the sixth inning, Tate Wargo was hit by a pitch, and on the next pitch to Jose Alvarez, Wargo stole second base, and went to third when the ball got away from Joliet catcher Brandon Heidal, putting the lead run 90 feet away from scoring with no outs.
Alvarez could not bring Wargo home, as Encina picked up one of three strikeouts he had on the night, but Holt came up next, and smacked his RBI single up the middle through the drawn-in infield and just past Slammers shortstop Andrew Fernandez to make the score 1-0 Gateway.
After Miley got the shutdown inning in the bottom of the sixth, he departed in favor of Alec Whaley, who proceeded to work around the tying run on base in both the seventh and the eighth innings, tying his career-high with two innings pitched to keep Gateway in front. Then, in the ninth, Leoni De La Cruz came on, and after Victor Nova singled to put the tying run on base, the flamethrowing southpaw struck out both Fernandez and Adam Pottinger to record his ninth save of the season and give the Grizzlies their seventh shutout win as a club this year.
Now 9-1 against the Slammers in 2024, the Grizzlies will look to clinch another road series win in the middle game of the midweek series on Wednesday, August 7, at 6:35 p.m. CT. Teague Conrad will pitch for Gateway against fellow rookie right-hander Landon Smiddy at Slammers Stadium.
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