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Redbirds Emerge Victorious in See-Saw Battle

July 8, 2015 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Colorado Springs Sky Sox News Release


COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - The Sky Sox will be happy to see Memphis leave town after Tuesday night's 13-6 series-ending loss to the Redbirds before a crowd of 4,983 fans at Security Service Field.

Memphis jumped out to a fast 3-0 lead against Sox starter Hiram Burgos (1-1, 4.87) in the game's very first frame. The right-hander allowed two singles, a double and a walk in the inning as Greg Garcia and Jeremy Hazelbaker each collected RBI knocks. Burgos settled down over the next two innings, keeping Memphis off the board until a two-run fourth regained the lead for the visiting side.

The Colorado Springs offense battled back early, scoring four combined runs in their first two trips to the plate against Memphis starter John Gast (5-6, 4.45). Logan Schafer pulled the Sox within two with his RBI double to plate Elian Herrera in the first before Yadiel Rivera's RBI double and Herrera's two-run triple in the home second gave the home squad a 4-3 lead.

Though Memphis retook the lead in the fourth with a slim 5-4 advantage, the Sox would not take long to respond as they knotted the game thanks to a Jason Rogers RBI sacrifice fly. The RBI was the infielder's first since rejoining the Sky Sox on Monday night.

Burgos and Gast each tossed another scoreless inning in the fifth before the Redbirds took the lead for good. Memphis would finally chase Burgos in the sixth, driving in three runs on three hits and an error. Burgos recorded just one out before being replaced by Rob Wooten in that fateful inning. In his shakiest Sox outing to date, Burgos allowed eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits and three walks while striking out two.

Wooten allowed one run on four hits while striking out two in his 1.2 innings of work before giving way to a scoreless inning of work from Wirfin Obispo in the eighth.

The Sox offense showed a little late life with two outs an no one on in the home eighth as Yadiel Rivera doubled before Bryan Petersen scored the speedy shortstop on an RBI single. The RBI was Petersen's first since May 13th at home against these same Redbirds.

Now trailing 9-6 after eight full innings of play, Colorado Springs called on the normally reliable Jaye Chapman to keep the deficit at three. The righty would struggle however as he surrendered four consecutive hits, the last being a two-run triple by left fielder Nick Martini, to give Memphis three runs scored in the ninth. Third baseman Alex Mejia followed with a sacrifice fly to Matt Clark in left, plating Martini with the night's final run.

Sam Tuivailala took over with two out in the eighth before finishing off the Sox in the home ninth despite back-to-back hits by Rogers and Clark. Tuivailala earned his 12th save, leading Memphis to a four-game sweep of the Sox with their 13-6 victory.

The four through seven hitters in the Redbirds lineup combined to go 13-for-18 with 10 runs scored and eight RBIs. Martini led the way, driving in four Memphis runs on the night. Herrera, Schafer and Rivera collected multi-hit efforts in the see-saw battle with Herrera recording four of the Sox 13 total hits to go along with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Colorado Springs will look to put this series behind them as the Oklahoma City Dodgers come into town on Wednesday night for a brand new five-game set. Coming off of his best start of 2015, Drew Gagnon (1-9, 6.39) hopes to get the Sox back in the win column against MLB veteran lefty Eric Stults (NR) and the Dodgers with first pitch set for 7:05 PM MDT at Security Service Field.

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