Chasers win Game 2 of the PCL Championship Series

Jarrod Dyson finished 4-for-6 with a homer,
four RBIs, three runs, a double and a stolen base
(Photo from Game 1: Minda Haas / Royal Blues)

Omaha, Neb. – The Omaha Storm Chasers drew one step closer to winning its first Pacific Coast League championship Wednesday night at Werner Park when they trounced the Sacramento River Cats 15-4 in front of 4,039 fans.

The Chasers fell behind early. Omaha starter Vin Mazzaro struggled with his command in the first inning, in which he threw 30 pitches (16 balls). He gave up a single to Jermaine Mitchell to lead off the game. Mitchell stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Josh Donaldson. Adrian Cardenas then took Mazzaro deep to right field to give Sacramento an early 3-0 lead.

“I wasn’t real happy – you give them three runs in the first,” said Omaha manager Mike Jirschele after the game. “But you know what? Our guys battled back and got us one right away to put us within two. We had eight innings to go after that, so we were still in the game.”

Omaha win puts them one win away from championship series

Manny Pina was 2-for-3 with 4 RBIs
(File photo: Lee Warren)

Round Rock, Tex. – Vin Mazzaro, Manny Pina and the Omaha Storm Chasers pulled out a hard-fought 7-2 victory over the Round Rock Express Thursday night, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

The Chasers will return home to Werner Park Friday, needing just one victory to advance to the Pacific Coast League Championship Series.

Just as they did in their Game 1 shutout, Omaha grabbed an early 3-0 lead.

In the top of the second, Kila Ka’aihue’s leadoff single was followed by a bunt base hit by Irving Falu and an infield single by Joaquin Arias, loading the bases with nobody out. Pina coaxed an eight-pitch walk to put the Chasers on the board, and Kurt Mertins and Jarrod Dyson followed with a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring sacrifice bunt, respectively, making it 3-0.

Chasers shut down by Cubs' pitching

Jarrod Dyson drove in the only run for Omaha
(File photo: Minda Haas / Royal Blues)

Des Moines, IA – Mario Mercedes tripled in the game-winning run in the sixth inning to lift Iowa to a 2-1 victory over Omaha Sunday night in the middle of a three-game series at Principal Park.

The Storm Chasers fell to 79-62 and will have one last chance to win 80-or-more games in back-to-back seasons for the first time in franchise history.

D.J. LeMahieu’s run-scoring single in the first inning put the Cubs in front before Jarrod Dyson’s RBI double in third evened the count. From there, the Chasers were shut down by Chris Rusin, Andrew Cashner, Chris Carpenter and Scott Maine, who held them scoreless on six hits over the final six innings.

4-3 Omaha win reduces magic number to three

Clint Robinson is hitting .404 in August.
(File photo: Minda Haas / Royal Blues)

Omaha, Neb. – Willy Lebron pitched three scoreless innings of relief, ensuring that Clint Robinson’s go-ahead two-run single would be enough for the Chasers to defeat the Round Rock Express 4-3 Monday night at Werner Park.

After the game, Omaha manager Mike Jirschele spoke about Robinson, who is hitting .404 with 29 RBIs in August.

“He made two outstanding [defensive] plays tonight,” Jirschele said. “Besides that, he’s seeing the ball good – swinging the bat well. He’s on a mission right now and he’s been helping to carry this club.”

The victory reduced the Storm Chasers’ magic number to three with seven games remaining, but Jirschele was quick to point out that the Chasers need to stay focused.

“Memphis has got a good club,” he said. “They could easily win out. So we’ve got to be able to go out and win three more games yet.”

Falu drives in three in Chasers win

Irving Falu's bases loaded double in the first inning
gave Vin Mazzaro all the run support he needed.
(File photo: Brad Williams Photography)

Metairie, LA – Vin Mazzaro was solid for six innings on the mound and Irving Falu delivered the game’s biggest hit as Omaha opened a five-game series with a 4-1 rain-shortened win over New Orleans at Zephyr Field.

The Storm Chasers improved to 74-57 and reduced their magic number to clinch their first division title since 1999 to eight.

The game was called after a 35-minute delay with two outs, nobody on and Zach Miner pitching to Chris Coghlan in the home seventh. Miner picked up his first save of the season.

Omaha loaded the bases with three singles in the first inning before Kila Ka’aihue popped out for the second out of the inning. However, Falu followed with a double that cleared the bases and staked the Chasers to a 3-0 lead. Falu has driven in 13 runs this month – which is more than he has driven in during any other month this season. He’s also hitting .400 (16-for-40) over his past ten games.

Cain's ninth inning double lifts Chasers to fifth straight win

Lorenzo Cain's two-run double in the ninth lifted
Omaha to its fifth straight win
(File Photo: Gage Matthews / Kings of Kauffman)

Tacoma, Wash. – Lorenzo Cain’s two-run double in the ninth inning helped Omaha steal away with a 3-1 win over Tacoma Friday night to complete a four-game series sweep at Cheney Stadium.

The Storm Chasers won their fifth straight to finish an eight-game road trip with six wins and a five-game lead over Memphis in the PCL American North with just 17 games remaining.

Clint Robinson led off the second inning with an opposite field home run to left, his 20th of the season, to give the visitors the early lead before Michael Saunders doubled home Mike Wilson in the home fourth to even the count.

Bees win in walk-off fashion

Salt Lake City, UT – Freddy Sandoval belted a lead off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift Salt Lake to a 2-1 triumph over Omaha Sunday evening in the third of a four-game series at Spring Mobile Ballpark. The Storm Chasers dipped to 66-55 and saw their lead in the PCL American North sliced to four games over now-second place Memphis, which shut out Tucson earlier in the day.

The Bees pushed across the game's first run in the first inning on Jeff Baisley's run-scoring hit but couldn't add to their lead with runners at the corners and nobody out in the second . Jarrod Dyson's lead off long ball, his second in as many days, got the game even in the fourth and gave him eight hits in 12 at-bats to that point in the series.

Omaha starter Vin Mazzaro yielded just a lone run on seven hits and matched a season-high with 10 strikeouts but was not involved the decision. He was removed after a two-out walk to Alexi Amarista, his third of the game, with two outs in the seventh before Zach Miner came on to record the final out of the inning.

River Cats even the series on a three-run home run

David Lough was 2-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs
(File photo: Minda Haas / Royal Blues)

The music group 33 Miles will be performing Saturday night after the game at Werner Park, but the number 33 wasn’t kind to the Omaha Storm Chasers Thursday night.

After a 33 minute rain delay in the fifth inning, Omaha manager Mike Jirschele decided to put starting pitcher Vin Mazzaro back on the mound and he gave up a three-run home run to Jermaine Mitchell, the first batter he saw, giving the River Cats a 4-3 lead.

That turned out to be the final score.

Does Jirschele regret putting Mazzaro back on the mound?

“He made one pitch – he didn’t locate it where he wanted to,” Jirschele said after the game. “But he ended getting through that and going another one [inning]. We had to look for him to hopefully get another inning or two and the rain delay wasn’t too long to where he couldn’t come back.

Round Rock earns series split with 9-2 win

Omaha, Neb. – The Round Rock Express took the finale of a four-game set with the Omaha Storm Chasers, 9-2, earning the series split and winning their 60th game of the year Monday afternoon at Werner Park. The Express collected at least one hit from each batter in their lineup as part of a 17-hit attack.

Round Rock out-hit Omaha 57-41 over the four games, matching a season-high for hits allowed by Chasers pitching in a series. The Express also held the Omaha offense in check for the second-straight day, stranding 13 baserunners and holding the Chasers to 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Lorenzo Cain’s RBI single in the fifth and Irving Falu’s bases-loaded walk in the seventh accounted for the entirety of the Chasers scoring output.

Vin Mazzaro got the start for Omaha, working the first five innings and getting tagged for five runs – three earned – on 11 hits. He struck out three and intentionally walked one batter. Mazzaro (5-1) was handed his first Triple-A defeat as a starting pitcher since May 6, 2009, when he was a member of the Sacramento River Cats, snapping a 22-start non-losing streak.

Memphis wins in extra innings to trim Omaha's lead to three games

Johnny Giavotella was 3-for-7, raising his
average to .390 in the month of July
(File photo: Gage Matthews / Kings of Kauffman)

Memphis, TN – Pete Kozma singled in the game-winning run with one out in the bottom of the 14th inning to finish a five-hour marathon and lift Memphis past Omaha, 6-5, Tuesday night in the second of a four-game series at Auto Zone Park.

The Redbirds rebounded from being no-hit in the series opener to pull within three games of the PCL American North-leading Storm Chasers, who had a three-game win streak snapped.

Mario Santiago stranded two runners in the 12th and 13th innings but could not work himself out of trouble in the 14th. Matt Carpenter, who went 5-for-6, drew a leadoff walk and moved to second base on an Aaron Luna sacrifice bunt. Following an intentional base on balls to Bryan Anderson, the fourth time he walked in the game, Kozma delivered a base hit to left field that brought Carpenter home with the decisive run. Kozma was 2-for-29 without an RBI against the Chasers before coming through with the winning hit.

Chasers split in OKC, take 1.5 game lead into the break

Vin Mazzaro
(File photo: Lee Warren)

Oklahoma City, OK - Vin Mazzaro threw seven solid innings to pitch Omaha past Oklahoma City, 4-1, Sunday afternoon in the last of a four-game set at Bricktown Ballpark. The Storm Chasers held the RedHawks to four hits in winning the last two games to earn a series split and head into the All-Star break with a 1.5 game lead over Memphis in the PCL American North.

Koby Clemens doubled home Robinson Cancel with two outs in the fourth inning to produce the game’s first run before the Chasers took the lead for good in the fifth.

Mazzaro then blanked the hosts on two hits over the next six innings to earn his fifth win of the season. The right-hander walked one and fanned three and was followed by Brandon Sisk, who retired all six hitters he faced to close out the victory and earn his first Triple-A save.

Omaha scores five in the ninth for improbable win

David Lough delivered the game-winning
sacrificy fly in the ninth inning
(Photo: Minda Haas / Royal Blues)

Metairie, LA – David Lough delivered the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly to finish off a five-run ninth inning rally as Omaha came back to fashion an improbable 6-5 victory over New Orleans Tuesday night in the middle contest of a three-game set at Zephyr Field. The Storm Chasers stopped a two-game slide to improve to 47-39 and maintain their hold on first place in the PCL American North.

Trailing 5-1 and held to just three hits entering the ninth, the visitors loaded the bases with nobody out on two hits and an error to chase Mariano Gomez from the hill. Pete Andrelczyk took over and was greeted by a Cody Clark single that knocked in a run and a two-run double by Joaquin Arias that trimmed the deficit to 5-4.

Jarrod Dyson was hit by a pitch to fill the bases before New Orleans native Johnny Giavotella singled home the tying run with his first hit of the series. Lough then followed with a fly ball off Dan Jennings deep enough for Arias to tag from third and score the decisive run. Mike Aviles, who started the game-changing rally with a leadoff double, went 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

Chasers win a crazy one

Irving Falu hit his first home run of the season
(Photo: Minda Haas / Royal Blues)

It was a crazy night at Werner Park. With a stiff wind blowing out to left field and the heat index over 100 degrees at first pitch, home runs were sure to follow.

Boy did they – nine total.

The Chasers hit five and the Albuquerque Isotopes hit four. Kila Ka’aihue, Lorenzo Cain, Johnny Giavotella, Mike Aviles and Irving Falu each homered in front of 6,516 fans, enroot to an 18-13 win.

The big inning of the night was the bottom of the sixth, which began with Omaha trailing 12-8. The Chasers sent 12 men to the plate in the frame, with Aviles getting things started with a one out solo homer, his eighth long ball in 19 games with the Chasers. Eight batters later, No. 9 hitter Falu – without a home run to his credit all season – belted a three-run blast onto the right field berm to make it 16-12 Omaha.

The 18 runs, five homers and eight-run inning were all season highs for the Chasers, as were the 10 walks the Omaha pitching staff allowed. Starter Vin Mazzaro came away with a no-decision, despite allowing eight runs on eight hits with six walks in four-plus innings.

Omaha powers past Nashville

Cody Clark (Photo: Lee Warren)

Cody Clark and Mike Aviles slugged solo home runs in a decisive four-run seventh inning to power Omaha past Nashville, 8-2, Thursday night in the fourth of a five-game set at Greer Stadium.

The Storm Chasers quieted the Sounds for a ninth time in 11 meetings to improve to 41-34 and increase their lead to 1 1/2 games over Memphis in the American Conference North Division. 

Lance Zawadzki smashed a two-run home run in the second to put the Chasers ahead 2-0 and extend his hitting streak to 14 games, the longest for any Omaha hitter this season.