RedHawks Win, Remain Three Games Behind Iowa Cubs

The Oklahoma City RedHawks scored six times with two outs, and their clutch hitting led the way to a 7-3 victory over the Fresno Grizzlies at Chuckchansi Park Thursday night.

The RedHawks (64-63) overcame an early deficit in the victory. Fresno got on the board right away in the first inning. Gary Brown led off with a single and eventually scored on a RBI single later in the inning by Mark Minicozzi to give Fresno a 1-0 lead.

Juan Perez added to the lead when he hit a line drive home run over the left field fence in the third inning to make it 2-0.

The RedHawks pulled even in the fourth inning. Andrew Aplin delivered a two-run, two-out single to tie the game up.

In the fifth, the RedHawks had the bases empty with two outs before drawing three straight walks to load the bases. Ronny Torreyes followed with a two-run single to give the RedHawks their first lead at 4-2.

Fresno (60-66) reclaimed a run in the bottom of the inning, thanks to the legs of Brown. He drew a leadoff walk and proceeded to steal second and third base. With one out, Darren Ford sent a fly ball to shallow right field. Ruben Sosa made the catch and fired home a bit up the third base line. Brown evaded Max Stassi's swipe tag and scored to get the Grizzlies within one run.

In the sixth, the RedHawks plated two runs for the third consecutive inning. Sosa lined a RBI double to deep center field to make it 5-3. With runners at the corners and two out, the RedHawks executed a double steal, with Sosa swiping home to give the RedHawks their largest lead of the night.

The RedHawks tacked on another two-out run in the eighth inning. Joe Sclafani delivered a RBI single to push the lead to 7-3.

Sclafani finished the game 2-for-3 with a pair of walks. He has now reached base in 30 consecutive games, which is tied for the second-longest in the PCL this season.

Unlike Wednesday night, the Grizzlies could not put together a late comeback. Tommy Shirley and Anthony Bass combined to retire the final nine Fresno batters to wrap up the win.

Despite getting outhit, 11-10, the RedHawks won in part because they drew eight walks. Four of those walks eventually turned into runs.

RedHawks starting pitcher Luis Cruz earned his first Triple-A win. Cruz (1-0) allowed three runs and eight hits over 5.1 innings, with five strikeouts and one walk.

After getting through the first three innings unscathed, Grizzlies starting pitcher Mike Kickham ran into trouble throughout the fourth and fifth and ended up with the loss. Kickham (7-8) allowed four runs and five hits, with five walks and five strikeouts over 4.2 innings.

With the win, the RedHawks remain three games back of the division-leading Iowa Cubs, who defeated Las Vegas in 12 innings Thursday night on walk-off home run by Kris Bryant.

The RedHawks and Grizzlies played in front of a crowd of 13,845 Thursday night, marking the fourth-largest attendance in Chukchansi Park history.

The RedHawks will try and take the series from the Grizzlies Friday night at 9:05 p.m. Central.