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Sky Sox Start Twin Bill with 1-0 Loss

August 27, 2016 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Colorado Springs Sky Sox News Release


COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - Despite a strong all-around pitching performance, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox dropped the first game of their doubleheader against the Oklahoma City Dodgers 1-0 in walk-off fashion on Saturday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

The game got off to a tough start for the Dodgers. After retiring the first two batters he faced in the top of the first, Dodgers starter Trevor Oaks (5-1, 3.00) walked Lewis Brinson. After the walk, Oaks was visited on the mound by the Dodgers trainer before being removed from the game with an apparent injury, leaving the rest of the game to the Dodgers bullpen. Casey Fein entered for Oklahoma City and got the final out in the first and pitched a scoreless second to keep the game scoreless before the Dodgers made another pitching change.

Rehabbing Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Junior Guerra (0-2, 4.05) got the start for the Sky Sox as part of his Major League rehab assignment in his first start for Colorado Springs since being called up by the Brewers in early May. He got off to a strong start by retiring the side in order in the first, including a strikeout of Yasiel Puig to end the inning.

In the second, Guerra worked around his own error on a missed pickoff throw to pitch another scoreless inning.

Matt West entered for Oklahoma City in the third and kept the Sky Sox without a run. Guerra did the same in the bottom half. In the fourth, Nate Orf led off with a single off West for the first Sky Sox hit on the day, but West induced a ground ball double play from Brinson to get through the inning unscathed.

Guerra quickly got the first out in the bottom half before Puig singled to center for the first Dodgers hit of the night. The Sky Sox turned to the bullpen after that as Austin Ross came in and finished the inning to keep the game scoreless. In his first rehab appearance with the Sky Sox, Guerra pitched three and a third scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while walking two and striking out two.

Josh Fields came in for Oklahoma City in the fifth and worked around a hit batter to pitch a scoreless frame to keep the game scoreless.

Ross allowed a leadoff hit to O'Koyea Dickson in the bottom half, but it would not result in a run as Pinto caught Dickson trying to steal for the second out of the inning before Ross struck out Brandon Hicks as the game remained scoreless. In the sixth, Ross induced a ground out from Puig with the go-ahead run on base to again keep the Dodgers off the board.

Dodgers relievers Luis Avilan and Jacob Rhame combined to pitch two scoreless innings to give their team a chance to walk-off in the bottom half of the seventh. The Sky Sox turned to submariner Ben Rowen in the bottom of the seventh and he sent the game to extra innings by pitching a scoreless frame.

Rhame returned to the mound for the Dodgers in the eighth and retired the Sky Sox in order to give his team another chance to walk-off. Will Venable led off the inning with a single off Rowen, then he advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt before the Sky Sox turned to Michael Kirkman to try and keep the game tied. Kirkman got the second out, but exited with runners on corners with one out. David Goforth came in to face Chris Taylor. Goforth did his job, striking out Taylor to end the inning with the winning run on third to send the game to the ninth without a run being scored.

In the bottom of the ninth, Puig led off with a double off the center field wall off Goforth for the first extra base hit by either team. A couple batters later, Austin Barnes singled to right to score Puig from second with the winning run to give the Dodgers the walk-off victory in the opener of the twin bill.

In his Sky Sox debut, Ramon Flores produced two of the Sky Sox three hits in the loss.



Pacific Coast League Stories from August 27, 2016


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