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| Jarrod Dyson made a great defensive play in addition to going 3-for-5 with a triple. (Photo: Corey O'Malley) |
“He made a good pitch,” Jirschele said after the game, speaking about reliever Brandon Sisk facing Pill in the tenth inning. “It was just too good a pitch. He should have hit it a little firmer.”
The Chasers found themselves down 3-0 in the middle innings. Brandon Crawford hammered a 1-1 offering from Omaha starter Vin Mazarro over the right field wall in the fourth inning. Later in the inning, Justin Christian and Edgar Gonzalez both drove in a run with singles.
Omaha couldn’t get much going against Fresno starter Matt Yourkin, but they finally broke through after reliever Dan Otero came in for the eighth inning. The Chasers pounded him for three runs on five straight hits.
Jarrod Dyson, who made an outstanding grab in the top half of the eighth – which probably saved a home run, led off the bottom half of the inning with a triple. David Lough drove him in with an RBI single to left, trimming Fresno’s lead to 3-1. Lorenzo Cain lined a 3-1 pitch to the gap in right center. Clint Robinson followed him by hitting the right center field gap, driving in Cain and Lough to tie the game 3-3.
Unfortunately, with Navarro at second and Robinson at third with no outs, the Chasers were unable to score again in the eighth. Irving Falu lined out to left. Joaquin Arias grounded out to third. And Cody Clark grounded out to short to end the inning.
The roster is thin right now due to the call up of Johnny Giavotella and with Kila Ka’aihue nursing a couple of injuries, so Jirschele didn’t have many options to pinch hit. He did use Ka’aihue in the ninth as a pinch hitter though.
During the game, it was announced that Kansas City has called up Salvador Perez, which will make Omaha’s roster even more thin. Jirschele will need to find a way to piece together a viable offensive lineup if the Chasers want to hang on to their lead in the PCL American North. Second place Memphis won last night, moving them to within four games of the Chasers.
“You just keep going, you know.” Jirschele said. “What you have is what you can put out there. One good thing is, KK is ready to go so he’ll be back in there tomorrow. So hopefully he can help us out a little bit offensively and defensively.
“But you’ve just got to keep going. That’s what those guys are here for. Hopefully they get to be good enough and they can move along.”
Omaha loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth, but Yamaico Navarro grounded out to first with two outs to end the threat. The Chasers went in order in the tenth.
*****
In a scene that is becoming commonplace in the Chasers’ clubhouse, Salvador Perez was all smiles after the game after hearing the news that he is bound for Kansas City.
“I’m so excited right now,” Perez said. “I don’t know what to think. I’m so happy, I worked so hard.”
He said his first call was going to be to his mom.
He said his first call was going to be to his mom.
