RedHawks walk off with win over Chasers

Oklahoma City, OK – Tommy Manzella's sacrifice fly brought home the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to push Oklahoma City past Omaha, 4-3, Friday night in the second of a four-game set at Bricktown Ballpark. The Storm Chasers dropped their second straight game to fall to 48-41 and saw their lead over Memphis in the PCL American North trimmed to one-half game.

Anderson Hernandez led off the home ninth with a looping single off Robinson Tejeda and moved to second base on a balk. Oswaldo Navarro dropped down a sacrifice bunt to advance Hernandez to third from where he scored the decisive marker on Manzella's fly ball to center field.

Brandon Barnes drove in the first run of the game in the home third with a fielder's choice grounder before Lorenzo Cain laced a line drive home run to left to even the score in the fourth and match a career-high with his 11th round tripper of the season.

OKC moved back in front 2-1 in the sixth when Drew Locke singled home Luis Durango before the Storm Chasers countered in the seventh with a two-out run of their own courtesy of a Johnny Giavotella single that plated Irving Falu.

Cancel's late inning home run lifts the RedHawks

Oklahoma City, OK – Robinson Cancel’s three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted Oklahoma City to a 7-5 come-from-behind win over Omaha Thursday night in the opener of a four-game set at Bricktown Ballpark.

The Storm Chasers dropped to 48-40 but maintained their 1.5 game lead over Memphis in the PCL American North after the Redbirds lost at Round Rock.

Jesse Chavez was brought on to face Cancel with runners at first and second one out in the decisive inning. The right-hander ran the count full before the OKC first baseman, with the runners in motion, hit his fourth home run of the season to left field to put the RedHawks back in front, 7-5. Mickey Storey came on to retire the Chasers in the ninth to earn the save.

The hosts broke up a scoreless game with three runs in the fourth when J.B. Shuck doubled home a run and scored on a Drew Locke sacrifice fly. Koby Clemens then hit a solo home run off the left field foul pole to complete the three-run burst against Omaha starter Sean O’Sullivan.

Jarrod Dyson steals the show in Omaha win

Jarrod Dyson stole the show Wednesday
(Photo: Minda Haas / Royal Blues)

Metairie, LA – Jarrod Dyson scored the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning on a wild pitch as Omaha upended New Orleans, 5-4, Wednesday afternoon to finish off a three-game set at Zephyr Field. The Storm Chasers took the last two games to improve to 48-39 and temporarily increase their lead over Memphis to two games in the PCL American North.

Dyson singled with two outs in the ninth, stole second, stole third and then scored on a Frank Mata offering that hit in the dirt and skipped past catcher Gregg Clime to move the visitors in front, 5-4. Jesse Chavez then worked a scoreless bottom of the frame to register his 10th save of the season.

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.

Gene Watson talks about the scouting process

Gene Watson, coordinator – professional scouting for the Kansas City Royals, was Mark Nasser’s pre-game show guest tonight. They had an interesting exchange about the process a scout goes through in evaluating talent.

Talk about evaluating players. I’m always fascinated by this for scouts because you might be in one place one day where a guy might either have a great game or a lousy game and you have to make evaluations based on just one game. That’s almost an impossible task.

You’ve really got to start with track record, statistical performance, what their draft status is, and then you begin to dig on the make up with your area scouts, finding out what kind of kids they were in high school, any people you might know in the other organization and really, you try to piece it all together and put it into one big melting pot and ultimately make your decision on the player.

Dayton Moore, the general manager, may call you at any second and say, “Geno, Player A. Yes or No?” That’s a lot of pressure.

That’s really the funnest part of the job and what you really have to do is, once you see a player, like a player, you’ve got to stay on track with him. How’s he doing? What’s his last month been? Six months? Year? Is he healthy? Is he taking care of his business off the field? What kind of teammate is he? That’s really, really the fun part of the job. I’ve learned the hard way sometimes, you better have an answer right away and you better be convicted of that answer.

New Orleans wins in walk-off fashion

David Lough was 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs
(File Photo: Lee Warren)

Metairie, LA – It was ugly at Zephyr Field tonight. New Orleans and Omaha combined for eight errors (both teams had four). Two errors in the bottom of the ninth were costly for the Chasers. They set the stage for a game-winning RBI double by New Orleans second baseman Joe Thurston, pushing the Zephyrs past Omaha 7-6.

It looked like the Chasers may be on the road to victory in the top half of the ninth when Irving Falu and Jarrod Dyson pulled off a double steal, and a throwing error on the play by catcher Brad Davis allowed Falu to score, giving Omaha a 6-5 edge. But it wasn’t enough.

Ozzie Martinez doubled with one out in the bottom half of the inning and came around to score the tying run on a Clint Robinson fielding error. Irving Falu followed Robinson’s error with a fielding error of his own at third base. Two hitters later, Thurston delivered his decisive hit past a diving Lorenzo Cain in right field.

Ely shuts down the Chasers to end Omaha’s winning streak

Suppan pitched seven innings, giving up two
earned runs on five hits and two walks
(Photo: Lee Warren)

Jeff Suppan’s bid for his fourth win in five starts came up short on Sunday, even though he pitched well enough to win – giving up just two earned runs in seven innings of work. But Albuquerque starter John Ely was even more efficient – tossing seven shutout innings while yielding just four hits and two walks in a 2-0 Albuquerque win in front of 9,023 fans, a new Werner Park record. 

The only scoring came in the fifth inning when Albuquerque first baseman Russell Mitchell took a 1-0 offering from Suppan over the left field wall with centerfielder Jamie Hoffmann on base. After the game, hitting coach Tommy Gregg – who is managing the team while Mike Jirschele is away on personal business – spoke about Suppan’s outing and the pitch Mitchell hit out of the park.

“That pitch was down,” Gregg said. “It was over the plate, but it was down and Mitchell did a good job of just getting the barrel to it and hit a line drive out of the park. But it wasn’t a bad pitch. You’ve got to give Mitchell the credit for putting the barrel on it good. That’s the way the game goes.

Giavotella stays hot; Omaha wins 4th straight

Giavotella continues to swing a hot stick, belting
a home run and driving in three
(Photo: Minda Haas / Royal Blues)

The calendar may have changed from June to July, but Omaha second baseman Johnny Giavotella hasn’t missed a beat at the plate. Following a calendar month in which he hit .398 with 49 hits, 25 runs batted in and 20 runs scored, the 5-foot-8 Giavotella belted a home run and drove in three runs in a 4-1 Storm Chasers victory over Albuquerque Saturday night at Werner Park.

Righthander Sean O’Sullivan (1-1), making his third rehabilitation start for the Storm Chasers, held the Isotopes to a run on four hits over six solid innings. He walked two and struck out five, throwing 59 of his 88 pitches for strikes. After giving up four runs on six hits in his first two rehab innings on June 22nd, O’Sullivan has allowed a total of one run on five hits in 10 innings since. He allowed his lone run in the top of the second, spotting Albuquerque a 1-0 lead, but that was all the visitors would manage to muster.

In the bottom of the third inning, Joaquin Arias led off with a triple to the left-center gap off losing pitching Randy Keisler (4-4). After an Irving Falu groundout kept Arias at third base, Giavotella lined one over the left field wall to make it 2-1 Storm Chasers. The PCL All-Star would add a sacrifice fly in the fifth, giving him seven home runs and a team-leading 59 runs batted in this season, all while hitting .328.

Mike & Mike provide 1-2 punch in shutout win

Mike Montgomery celebrated his 22nd birthday in style, throwing 6.2 shutout innings en route to a 6-0 blanking of the Albuquerque Isotopes Friday night at Werner Park. Shortstop Mike Aviles provided Montgomery and the bullpen all the offense they would need, belting a third-inning grand slam to put the Chasers up for good.

It was the Storm Chasers third win in a row, each of which have come in dramatically different types of ballgames. First it was Kila Ka’aihue’s walk-off grand slam on Tuesday to beat Memphis 6-2, then Thursday’s 18-13 slugfest against the Isotopes that featured nine home runs. This time, Montgomery came back strong after taking a start off.

The 6-foot-4 lefty allowed just a pair of singles, walked three and struck out seven in 98 pitches. He exited to a standing ovation from many of the 6,805 in attendance, improving his record to 3-4 on the season. It was Montgomery’s first home win since his first home start back on April 17 against Nashville. Mario Santiago and Jesse Chavez retired seven of the eight batters they faced to finish off the ballgame.