River Cats Down Sky Sox 8-1

May 25, 2007 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Sacramento River Cats News Release

The Colorado Springs Sky Sox (23-22) fell to the Sacramento River Cats (29-19) 8-1 on Friday night at Security Service Field in front of 3,820.

The River Cats grabbed the lead quickly in the top of the first inning against the Sky Sox with a two-out grand slam from outfielder Jason Perry off of starter Bobby Keppel (1-4). After a lead-off ground out from Mark Kotsay, on a rehab assignment from the Oakland A's, Keppel gave up a walk to J.J Furmaniak and a single to Kevin Melillo. Shortstop Clint Barmes made an acrobatic over the shoulder catch for the second out of the inning. Catcher Kurt Suzuki walked and Perry followed with a blast deep over the right-center field fence for a 4-0 lead.

Sacramento starter Kazuhito Tadano (2-0) struck out six consecutive Sky Sox batters to start the game before right-fielder Seth Smith singled to left field in the third inning.

The River Cats Kevin Melillo hit a double to left field with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning and Daric Barton followed with an RBI single to go ahead 5-0.

Following a walk and two singles in the top of the sixth inning, Kotsay drove in a run with a force out to make it 6-0.

Cory Sullivan hit an RBI single following a two-out double by Barmes to get the Sox on the board in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Jeremy Brown added a two-out, two RBI double in the bottom of the ninth for the River Cats to finish off the scoring at 8-1.

Tadano earned the win for Sacramento allowing no runs on five hits while striking out seven and walking one in six innings. Keppel got the loss for the Sky Sox allowing five runs on 10 hits in 5.1 innings.

Game two tomorrow night will feature right-hander Jorge De Paula (4-0, 3.13) for the Sky Sox and left-hander Dan Meyer (1-0, 2.28) for the River Cats.

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