WILD NIGHT AT CHUKCHANSI PARK ENDS IN A ONE-RUN LOSS

Jul 08, 2015 No Comments by

FRESNO, Calif. — The Fresno Grizzlies (49-37) dug themselves an early hole and couldn’t complete the comeback Tuesday night at Chukchansi Park in an 8-7 loss to the Tacoma Rainiers (43-43) in front of 4,928 fans. The Grizzlies had the tying run at third in the bottom of the ninth, but Pacific Coast League All-Star L.J. Hoes flew out in foul territory to end the game.

Fresno Grizzlies #14 Joe Sclafani Tags second base then throws to first to complete the double play while Tacoma Rainiers #7 slides.

The team had another prime opportunity to tie or capture their first lead of the night in the bottom of the eighth after Matt Duffy’s RBI single brought the team within a run. With Duffy representing the tying run, he’d remain at first when Domingo Santana struck out and Tyler White popped out to short center. The inability to advance Duffy into scoring position proved costly when Tyler Heineman doubled down the left field line, as the third baseman could only advance to third. Now with two outs and the tying run at third and go-ahead run at second, Max Stassi bounced out to third on the first pitch he saw from reliever Danny Farquhar.

Fresno starter Mike Hauschild, who was spectacular in three road starts, was roughed up again at home to the tune of six runs on 11 hits over 4.2 innings. Tacoma strung together four straight hits in the third to plate three runs and then added a fourth run in the inning when Jesus Montero smacked an RBI triple that split the gap in right-center. The Rainiers lead moved to as high as 6-1 in the fourth, but that’s when the Fresno offense started to come back.

An extremely bizarre play happened in the Fresno sixth when Matt Duffy singled and Domingo Santana followed with what would’ve been a tailor-made 6-4-3 double play. However, shortstop Leury Bonilla threw wide of second and the ball went all the way into right-field foul territory. Duffy moved to third on the error, rounded the base to draw a throw home, and stopped, but looked to his left and noticed that Domingo Santana had never stopped running and was about to occupy his base. Seeing that Duffy never advanced home, Santana reversed course back to second and was sliding into the bag when the throw by pitcher Logan Kensing went over the head of the second baseman and into center field. Duffy trotted home to score, while Santana made his way back onto his feet and hustled over to third. Santana would score on an RBI groundout by Tyler White, which brought the Grizzlies to within 7-6.

The loss leaves Fresno with a series split with second-place Tacoma, which doesn’t do any favors or disservice to the club’s seven-game first-place lead. The Grizzlies take to Highway 99 tomorrow and head north to begin a five-game series with the Sacramento River Cats at Raley Field. The series marks the final five games before the Triple-A All-Star Break. Follow along with the action by listening to the radio call on 1430 AM-KYNO or by streaming the feed through the TuneIn App. All of the games Wednesday through Saturday start at 7:05 PM PT, while the Sunday game begins at 1:05 PM PT.

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