Omaha and Memphis both lose, magic number drops to five

Metairie, LA – Alex Romero had four hits, scored a run and drove in a run as New Orleans held off Omaha, 6-3, Saturday evening in the fourth of a five-game series at Zephyr Field. The Storm Chasers fell to 75-59, but maintained their four-game lead over Memphis, since they lost as well, in the PCL American North. The Chaser's magic number dropped to five.

 Trailing 6-3, the Chasers two last-gasp efforts failed when they put runners at second and third with nobody out in the eighth but could not score, as Dan Jennings got Clint Robinson to fly out before striking out Kila Ka’aihue and retiring Irving Falu on a ground out. Victor Garate was called on with runners at the corners and two out in the ninth and got David Lough to fly out to end the game and secure the hosts second win of the series.

Jorge Padilla and Joe Thurston opened the home first with back-to-back doubles to produce the game’s first run against Omaha starter Jeff Suppan, who avoided further damage by stranding Thurston at third with one out.

New Orleans expanded its lead to 4-0 in the fifth on a run-scoring base hit by Padilla, a former Omaha outfielder, and a two-run double from Vinny Rottino. Omaha started its comeback in the next half inning as the middle of the order rallied for three runs with two out against New Orleans starter Tom Koehler, who lasted 5.2 innings to pick up his 11th win of the season.

Robinson doubled home Lorenzo Cain, who had four hits, and then scored when Ka’aihue followed with his 11th home run of the season. Robinson matched current Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle for second on Omaha’s all-time single-season list with 35 two-base hits and Aaron Guiel for fifth on the team’s all-time single-season list with 95 RBIs.

Suppan was removed with runners at the corners and one out in the home sixth and replaced by Zach Miner, who gave up an RBI double to Romero before fanning Miguel Fermin and Padilla with runners at second and third to limit the damage and keep it a 5-3 game. Mike Cervenak’s RBI double in the seventh pushed the hosts lead to three, which they would need to survive the two late-inning thrusts by Omaha.

The series wraps up Sunday evening with Omaha right-hander Sean O’Sullivan matched up against New Orleans right-hander Alex Sanabia.