PCL1 Omaha Storm Chasers

Royals drop third in a row as ninth-inning rally falls short

Published on June 12, 2005 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release


OMAHA – The Omaha Royals dropped their third straight to Memphis Sunday, as a throw to first base dropped for an instant by Chris Duncan did not allow the Royals to score the tying run in the bottom of the ninth. The Royals did score two runs in their last at-bat and just missed getting a huge break for a third run, losing 4-3 in front of 10,046 fans at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Memphis led 4-1 entering the bottom of the ninth. However, the Royals loaded the bases with one out on a leadoff single by Chris Truby and a one-out hit by Paul Phillips followed by Vladimir Nunez issuing a walk to Luis Ugueto. Adrian Brown hit into a force play for the second out, driving in Truby with Omaha's second run of the game. With Phillips at third, Brown stole second base – his second swipe of the day and 20th of the season. The throw by Memphis catcher Brad Cresse skipped into center field, allowing Phillips to score the third run and Brown to move to third base with the potential tying run.

Denny Hocking fell behind in the count 0-2 and hit a come-backer to Nunez. Duncan drooped Nunez' toss to first base, but the big first baseman scooped up the ball at his feet just before Hocking arrived at the bag. Nunez wound up with his fourth save of the season and second less-than-routine save of the series.

Memphis starter Kevin Jarvis (5-2) got the win, scattering nine hits while giving up just one run over six innings. The Royals had runners at first and third with nobody out in both the third and sixth innings against Jarvis and failed to score both times.

After committing a season-high five errors Saturday night, the Royals made three more fielding miscues on Sunday. Chris George (4-4) gave up one earned run and two more unearned runs in seven innings to suffer the hard-luck loss. George is now 0-4 at Rosenblatt, while going 4-0 on the road.

Memphis scored another unearned run, which turned out to be the deciding tally, off Justin Huisman in the ninth inning. On an attempted steal, Bo Hart was caught between first and second base, but Phillips' throw towards second base was dropped by shortstop Luis Ugueto for his second error of the game, allowing Hart to scamper back to first. Hart would later score his second run of the day and ninth of the four-game set on Raul Gonzalez' two-out RBI single. It was Gonzalez' second hit of the game, ninth of the series and 23rd hit in 53 at-bats (.434) vs. the Royals this season.

Omaha (28-36), now five-and-a-half games behind Memphis in the PCL's American Conference North, opens a 16-game road trip Monday with a 7:05 p.m. game at Oklahoma: RH Shawn Camp (1-3, 4.33) vs. TBA. Air-time is 6:45 p.m. on Magic 1490 and at www.Oroyals.com.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from June 12, 2005


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