Oklahoma City Loses Second Consecutive to Sacramento

The RedHawks were unable to get going against the Rivercats Sunday, falling in a nine-run contest.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:25 pm

By: News On 6

Oklahoma City Loses Second Consecutive to Sacramento

Originally Published: May 23, 2011 12:27 AM CDT

Gerald Goodridge
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

SACRAMENTO, California -- The Oklahoma City RedHawks continued to struggle against Sacramento, falling to the Rivercats 11-2 in the final game of the four-game road series.

In his first appearance of the season, Carlos Hernandez (1-0) came away with a great outing, giving up just six hits without allowing an earned run in six innings, while striking out four batters. Ryan Rowland-Smith (2-3) was credited with a loss for the outing, giving up 11 hits and eleven earned runs in four innings of service.

Oklahoma City actually took the game’s first lead, thanks to an RBI single from Robinson Cancel in the top of the first. However, the Rivercats responded in the bottom of the first and never looked back.

Back-to-back walks started the inning, followed by a Michael Taylor ground ball single to score Jemile Weeks from second to tie the game. Josh Donaldson followed with a ground out at first, but allowed Eric Sogard to score and give the Rivercats a 2-1 advantage. Two at-bats later, Adrian Cardenas laid down a bunt single to second base to bring Taylor home and give Sacramento a 3-2 lead.

A solo home run from Shane Peterson in the bottom of the second and one from Anthony Recker in the bottom of the third made it a three-run advantage in the third.

Sacramento continued to pile on and built a 10-1 lead by the bottom of the fifth. Oklahoma City tacked on one more run, a force out in the top of the seventh that allowed J.B. Shuck to score, but never mounted a comeback.

Oklahoma City will stay in California, but will head south for a four-game series against the Fresno Grizzlies, starting at 9:05 p.m.