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| Jesse Chavez picked up his 15th save of the season Tuesday night (Photo: Brad Williams Photography) |
Chavez entered with two men on and one out in the eighth and recorded all five of the remaining outs via the strike out, preserving Omaha’s 3-2 victory over the Tacoma Rainiers.
Second place Memphis picked up their fourth win in a row, keeping the pressure on the Chasers to win if they want to keep their 4.0 game lead in the PCL American North. The Chasers are 6-4 in their last 10 games (compared to Memphis, who is 7-3), which isn’t bad for a team that has been decimated by big league call ups and nagging injuries. By the way, the Chasers announced that playoff ticket packages are now on sale.
Starting pitcher Luis Mendoza (9-5), who missed a start with a “tired” arm, earned the victory on Tuesday, allowing two runs on five hits over six innings of work. He walked two and struck out five, using 88 pitches. Mendoza improved to 7-0 in nine road starts this season and 9-1 on the road overall, despite seeing his ERA rise to a still-league best 2.30. He has 10 quality starts in his last 13 outings.
The game was scoreless through the first four innings, but all of the scoring between the two clubs would take place in the next inning and a half.
Clint Robinson singled to lead off the fifth off losing pitcher Anthony Vasquez (4-3) and eventually moved up to second on a walk by Yamaico Navarro. Cody Clark then ripped a double down the left field line to score Robinson, and second baseman Kurt Mertins followed with an infield single that scored Navarro to make it 2-0 Chasers.
The Rainiers rallied to even things up at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth on a pair of two-out RBI singles, one from Michael Saunders and another from Chris Gimenez. Mendoza was able to compose himself and strikeout Alex Liddi on a ball in the dirt to end the inning, one of 11 strikeouts recorded by Omaha pitching.
The Chasers rallied one inning later to take the lead for good, loading the bases with nobody out before Clint Robinson’s RBI fielder’s choice brought home the decisive run. The RBI was Robinson’s ninth in his past six games and 82nd on the season. Robinson’s fifth-inning single increased his hitting streak to nine games.
Kevin Pucetas worked 1.1 innings in relief of Mendoza before giving way to the dominant Chavez, who allowed a two-out infield dribbler for a hit in the ninth before fanning Luis Jimenez with a high fastball to end the ballgame. Chavez has struck out 15 batters in his last nine innings pitched over six appearances.
The two teams will face off Wednesday night in game two of the series, with veteran righthander Jeff Suppan (11-6, 4.64) going up against Forrest Snow (0-2, 7.15), a 22-year-old righthander just getting his first taste of Triple-A baseball action. First pitch from Tacoma is scheduled for 9:05 pm.
