Tacoma’s Cody Martin silenced the Sky Sox in the opener of the second half and struck out nine in the process of picking up his eighth win. (Steve Dalmado/MiLB.com)
The Sky Sox wrapped up the first-half of the PCL season with a 7-4 win over the Iowa Cubs Sunday afternoon at Security Service Field. The pitchers had a big day as Aaron Wilkerson tossed four scoreless in his Brewers org. debut, Tim Dillard got the win and Corey Knebel his second save. Offensively, Keon Broxton paced the club with a triple, a home run, and two RBI, while Garin Cecchini also chipped in with a pair of hits and Nate Orf drove in three. The Sox entered the break a game over .500 at 44-43 and 7 games out of first place behind the Oklahoma City Dodgers.
Manny Pina and Damien Magnifico took part in the Triple-A All-Star game last night in Charlotte, NC. Orlando Arcia was named to the PCL’s All-Star team, but did not participate in the game do to personal reasons. Pina started at catcher and went 0-for-2 with a walk, while Magnifico pitched one-third of a perfect inning. The International League All-Stars doubled up the PCL All-Stars 4-2.
Following the three-day break, Colorado Springs traveled to the Pacific Northwest and opened up a four-game series against the first-place Tacoma Rainiers last night at Cheney Stadium. Hiram Burgos climbed the hill for the Sox and gave up a run in the second inning, but was helped out by his shortstop Orlando Arcia who doubled and scored in the fourth inning to tie the game 1-1. The powerful Rainiers then capitalized and took the lead for good in the next half inning with two solo home runs, one off the bat of Ryan Strausborger and the other from Guillermo Heredia. The 3-1 lead stood up for Tacoma as they used four arms to limit the Sox to a run on four hits.
Hitting Notes –
The Sky Sox picked up one run on four hits in their first game back to action following the All-Start break.
Orlando Arcia picked up a leadoff double in the fourth inning, advanced to third and scored on a couple of fly outs for the Sky Sox lone run.
Josmil Pinto saw his lengthy 14-game hitting streak come to an end, but collected the only RBI for Colorado Springs with a sac fly in the fourth inning.
Keon Broxton, Rene Garcia and Kyle Wren each tallied base hits and Wren was the lone Sox to reach twice thanks to a hit and a walk.
Pitching Notes –
Hiram Burgos turned in another very nice Burgos-like outing as he went five innings and limited the Rainiers to 3 runs on 9 hits, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts. The two homers allowed did him in the most. He threw 96 pitches, 61 for strikes and dropped to 5-6 with the loss.
Tyler Cravy and Sam Freeman combined for three scoreless innings in relief of the starter.
Play of the Game –
Tacoma loaded the bases with one out in the second inning and had already scored a run when Nori Aoki stepped up to the plate. With the infield drawn in, Aoki punched a steamer to first base where Pinto collected it with a sprawling stop and from his knees threw home to get the lead runner, kept the game 1-0, and eliminated the Rainiers from a big inning.
Pregame Interview with Dan Karcher and Kyle Wrne (Pt. 2) –
Thanks for reading – See you on the radio,
Dan
Colorado Springs Sky Sox Official Team Blog 