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| Yamaico Navarro blasted a three-run home run to give Omaha a 4-2 win at Tacoma (File photo: Lee Warren) |
The Storm Chasers improved to 69-55 and lengthened their lead to five games over Memphis in the PCL American North with just 19 regular season games left to play.
Trailing 2-1 after Tacoma had scored in the home eighth, the Chasers got back-to-back singles from Irving Falu and Lorenzo Cain to begin the decisive inning. Rainiers reliever Scott Patterson battled back to strike out Clint Robinson and Kila Ka’aihue and was one strike away from doing the same to Navarro before the shortstop drilled a line drive that cleared the left field wall to dramatically alter the contest with his first three runs driven in wearing an Omaha uniform.
Navarro has had a difficult time getting on track since being traded to Omaha on July 30. He was hitting .258 with 5 HR and 13 RBIs for Pawtucket at the time of the trade, but was hitting just .189 with no RBIs in 10 games coming into the game last night for Omaha.
After giving up a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth, Kelvin Herrera struck out the next three hitters to preserve the victory, the fourth in six games for the Chasers on their eight-game road trip.
Alex Lidd’s two-out RBI double in the bottom of the third got the scoring started and the game stayed that way until the sixth when the Chasers finally dented 22-year-old Tacoma starter Forrest Snow.
The right-hander held the visitors to just two hits and had struck out nine through the first five innings. Kurt Mertins opened the sixth with a single and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and ground out before Cain doubled to drive him in with the tying run.
Omaha starter Jeff Suppan, 36, was lifted with two runners on and two outs in the sixth after allowing seven hits, walking two and striking out a season-best eight. Zach Miner took over and got Johan Limonta to fly out to end the threat.
Brandon Sisk opened the eighth on the hill for Omaha and gave up a run-scoring double to Limonta that put hosts back on top, 2-1. It was just the second hit in 11 tries with a runner in scoring position for Tacoma, who had stranded 13 runners over the first seven innings.
The series continues Thursday with Omaha right-hander Sean O’Sullivan (6-2, 3.20) taking the mound against Tacoma southpaw Chris Seddon (8-6, 6.43) at 9:05 pm.
