River Cats Take Two-Game Lead
September 4, 2003 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Edmonton Trappers News Release
Designated hitter Jason Grabowski was 2-for-5 with a run scored, a double and three RBI as the Sacramento River Cats downed the Edmonton Trappers 10-5 Thursday night at TELUS Field. Sacramento now leads the best-of-five Pacific Conference Final two-games-to-none. Grabowski has had a tremendous series so far, going 5-for-11 with three extra-base hits and eight RBI. Third baseman Luis Lopez added a three-run home run as the River Cats banged out 18 hits en route to the win. Sacramento has scored 26 runs on 38 hits in the first two games of this series. They led the Pacific Coast League in runs scored with 859 during the regular season. The River Cats have now won six consecutive games from the Trappers. Sacramento won the season series 11 games to five. Edmonton and Sacramento will continue this best-of-five series on Friday night at Raley Field in Sacramento. The series will conclude in California over the weekend.
Britt Reames made the start for Edmonton and pitched well through the first four innings. He got into trouble in the first inning allowing a leadoff single to Esteban German and a two-out walk to PCL MVP Graham Koonce, but managed to get out of the jam by getting Grabowski to fly out to center. The Trappers opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with two runs off left-hander John Rheinecker. With two down in the inning Terrmel Sledge drew a walk and Valentino Pascucci followed with a single to left-center that moved Sledge to third. Ryan Balfe then took a Rheinecker pitch the opposite way off the wall in right field, scoring Sledge and Pascucci to give Edmonton their first lead of the series. Reames also got into trouble in the third inning, allowing back-to-back singles to Chris Prieto and Mike Edwards with two out, but he managed to get Koonce to ground out to get out of that inning unscathed.
Edmonton squandered a scoring chance in the fourth inning when Pascucci reached on an error and Ryan Balfe followed with a base hit. Matt Cepicky then grounded into a double play and Jeff Bailey bounced out to end the threat. Sacramento shortstop Jose Flores ended a string of five consecutive outs with a triple down the right field line with one down in the fifth inning. German then grounded out to short, allowing Flores to score the River Cats first run. The River Cats took the lead in the sixth inning with two runs off Reames. Edwards singled to open the inning, advanced to third on a double by Lopez and scored on a wild pitch. Michael Lockwood then reached on an infield single, which plated Lopez with the go-ahead run. With two out in the seventh inning Sacramento exploded for four runs off reliever Roy Corcoran. Edwards and Koonce had back-to-back singles and Grabowski followed with a double that plated Edwards to give Sacramento a two-run advantage. Lopez then took Corcoran deep for a three-run home run. Edmonton plated a single run in the bottom of the seventh when Randy Knorr scored on a two-out double by Peter Bergeron. Sacramento plated three more runs in the eighth on an RBI single by Prieto that scored Flores and a two-run single by Grabowski that plated German and Prieto. Knorr hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to cap the scoring.
Highlights:
Trappers: Were 38-31 at TELUS Field.are the North Division Champions for the second consecutive year.game three of the Pacific Conference Final will go at Raley Field in Sacramento on Friday night.Sacramento leads the series, 2-0.Sacramento won the season series 11-5, outscoring the Trappers104-72.
3B Ryan Balfe: Gave the Trappers an early 2-0 lead with a two-run double in the first inning.also singled in the fourth inning.was 2-for-4 with two RBI.had a big month of August for the Trappers, batting .323 with three home runs and 19 RBI in 25 games.
Alumni Report:
3B Eric Chavez (OAK) @ BAL: Hit back-to-back home runs off Damian Moss with Billy McMillon in the third inning, but the Orioles hung on to beat the A's 7-5.was 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI.has 82 RBI.has 130 home runs in his career.
Pacific Coast League Stories from September 4, 2003
- River Cats Take Two-Game Lead - Edmonton Trappers
- Sounds Drop Game Two, Series Tied 1-1 - Nashville Sounds
- Sacramento beats Edmonton 10-5, will host Trappers on Friday - Sacramento River Cats
- River Cats Game Two Playoff Notes - Sacramento River Cats
- Cats Pounce on Trappers, 16-2 - Edmonton Trappers
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