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| Joaquin Arias was 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs (File photo: Brad Williams Photography) |
The Storm Chasers improved to 75-58, pushed their lead over Memphis back to four games and trimmed their magic number to six to clinch their first division title since 1999.
Clint Robinson started the second inning with a single, moved to second base on a wild pitch and scored on Irving Falu’s one-out base hit to get the Chasers on the board. Matt Dominguez led off the home half of the inning with a home run, his 12th of the season and fifth against Omaha. The long ball ended a stretch of 61 innings for Omaha starter Luis Mendoza since he had last yielded a home run on June 28 to Andrew Brown of Memphis.
The Chasers regained the lead for good in the fourth on Yamaico Navarro’s scoring fly ball and maintained the one-run difference after Mendoza stranded runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out in the bottom of the inning. Omaha took advantage of the shift in momentum in the fifth with a two-run double from Lorenzo Cain and an RBI hit from Kila Ka’aihue to expand their lead to 5-1.
Jarrod Dyson contributed a two-run single and Robinson supplied a two-run double as Omaha blew the game open with five runs in the sixth. Robinson has knocked in 94 runs, the sixth-highest single-season total in franchise history. Arias belted his homer in the seventh, his first since May 11 at Reno.
Mendoza was not particularly sharp yet was able to work out of consistent trouble and limit New Orleans to a lone run on seven hits over six innings to improve to 11-5, with 10 of his victories on the road. Kevin Pucetas, Willy Lebron and Brandon Sisk each tossed a shutout frame to polish off the win.
The series continues Saturday evening with Omaha sending right-hander Jeff Suppan (11-6, 4.40) to the hill against New Orleans RHP Tom Koehler (10-7, 5.16).
