Richardson's Blast Wins Thriller in the Ninth
August 19, 2011 - American Association (AA)
Wichita Wingnuts News Release
WICHITA, KS- The Wichita Wingnuts defeated the Gary SouthShore RailCats 8-6 at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium on Friday night.
Trailing 8-6 in the bottom of the ninth inning, Juan Richardson hit a two-out, three-run home run to right field off of RailCats' closer Travis Minix to win the ballgame. It was the first game-ending home run for the Wingnuts since August 26th, 2009.
With the head-to-head win over Gary, the Wingnuts are now within 1.0 game of first place in the Central Division. Coupled with St. Paul's loss versus Fargo-Moorhead, the Wingnuts also have a 1.0 game lead over the Saints in the wild card race. All three teams have 10 games remaining this season.
Mike Conroy started the ninth-inning rally with one out, legging out an infield single on a slow bouncer to second base. After Minix struck out Jimmy Mojica, Josh Horn grounded a single just over the second base bag on a full count to put the tying and winning runs on base. Richardson fell behind 0-2 before working a full count himself. Richardson's home run came on the seventh pitch of the at bat.
The Wingnuts scored four early runs in the bottom of the first against Gary starter Ryne Reynoso. Mojica lined a single center and scored from first when Horn sliced a double in front of the warning track in right-center. Richardson drove in his first run of the night with a single to center that plated Horn.
After Richardson was caught stealing, Carlos Rivera singled to left, Jorge Delgado walked, and Mitch Einertson grounded a single through the left side to load the bases. Josh Workman capped off the rally with a line drive single to right that scored two more runs.
Wichita scratched out another run in the bottom of the third. Reynoso threw a wild pitch with the bases loaded and two outs, allowing Rivera to score from third base. Reynoso took a no-decision, allowing five earned runs on eight hits in five and one-third innings. Reynoso walked four and struck out two.
Ryan Hinson battled through six innings in a no-decision, allowing four earned runs on 10 hits. Hinson walked two and struck out one.
The RailCats scored twice in the fourth on an RBI double down the left field line from Brian Kolb and a two-out, RBI single to right from Mike Valadez.
Gary cut the lead to 5-4 with two more runs in the sixth. With second and third and one out, Adam Klein drove in Mike Rohde with a groundout to second. Mike Massaro followed with an RBI triple to right-center field.
In the top of the seventh, Toddric Johnson singled with one out against Jared Simon and scored on Kolb's double down the right field line. Matt Nevarez relieved Simon, walked Rohde, and then retired Valadez on a groundout to third base. Chris Carrara made it 6-5 RailCats with a two-out, RBI single to left field.
Kendy Batista and Marcos Tabata each worked a perfect inning of relief to keep the Wingnuts within one run. Tabata earned the win.
Greg Porter hit the Wingnuts' last game-ending home run in a win versus Lincoln on August 26th, 2009.
The series continues Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. Nick Singleton faced left-hander Trent Lare. For tickets, call the Wingnuts' office at (316) 264-NUTS or visit the Wingnuts' official website at www.wichitawingnuts.com.
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