Andy Wilkins picked up another pair of RBI and upped his team0high total to 50 in the 6-5 loss Tuesday night in OKC. (Bobby Stevens/MiLB.com)

The Sky Sox scored in the first and held a 1-0 lead over the first-place Dodgers, but it was ever short lived as the home team plated three in the bottom half and it seemed like the rout may be on. OKC notched another pair in the fifth to make it 5-1, but Colorado Springs used two-run rallies in the sixth and seventh innings to tie the game 5-5. The Sox bullpen was performing nicely and hadn’t allowed a run in four innings of work, but that all was halted with two down in the bottom of the ninth inning. Austin Ross dismissed the first two batters he face and Zach Walters stepped in a worked the count to 3-1 before crushing a walk-off solo homer down the left-field line, giving the Dodgers the 6-5 win. The loss marked the third in a row for the Sox, the second of the series to OKC and it put them back at .500 (41-41) and dropped them to six games out of first place.

Hitting Notes – 

The Sox notched five runs on seven hits and did most of their damage in the sixth and seventh innings as they plated four of the five tallies on four of the seven hits in those two innings. Four of the seven knocks went for extra-base hits, three doubles and a triple.

Josmil Pinto picked up the lone two-hit performance for Colorado Springs and scored one of the five runs. He continues to be scorching hot and has 16 hits over his last 10 games.

Andy Wilkins led the way with 2 RBI, both coming on a double in the sixth inning. He now has a team-high 50 RBI this season.

Keon Broxton was gifted an RBI triple in the seventh and scored the tying run on Eric Young Jr.’s sacrifice fly two batters later.

Kyle Wren set the table with a hit and two runs scored, while Michael Reed and Nate Orf hit doubles. Reed scored a run and Orf drove in a run.

Pitching Notes – 

Tyler Cravy took the hill for the 10th time in a Sky Sox uniform and was greeted by three two-out runs in the bottom of the first. Cravy allowed another pair of two-out tallies in the fifth before his outing came to a close. He went 4 2/3 innings and allowed 5 runs on 9 hits, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts. He threw 80 pitches, 53 for strikes.

Sam Freeman and Corey Knebel combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings allowing 2 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts. Knebel might be back in the bigs in the near future if he keeps turning in performances like last night. He went two perfect and struck out a pair. He’s allowed one run on three hits in 11 innings with Colorado Springs, while striking out 13.

Austin Ross retired the first two men in the ninth, but couldn’t get the final out to send the game to extras. He allowed the walk-off homer to Walters and was hung with the loss.

Play of the Game – 

Unfortunately for the Sky Sox the play of the game came off the bat of Zach Walters…

Pregame Interview with Dan Karcher and Kyle Wren (Part 1) – 

Thanks for reading – See you on the radio,

Dan

@Dan_Acheson