RedHawks Narrowly Avoid Doubleheader Sweep

Oklahoma City needed extra innings and bad pitching to escape with a win in the second game of the night.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:55 am

By: News On 6

RedHawks Narrowly Avoid Doubleheader Sweep

Originally Published: Sep 1, 2010 9:29 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City RedHawks needed extra innings to do it, but split a doubleheader with the Nashville Sounds Wednesday to keep their hold on the division lead.

After losing the first game of the night, the RedHawks (72-65) were gifted with a win in the second game thanks to bad pitching.

With the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 10th inning, Nashville pitcher David Johnson walked the first two batters and hit the third to load the bases with nobody out. He then walked Matthew Brown on four pitches, bringing home the game-winning run.

The Sounds (73-65) scored the game’s first run in the fifth inning, when Brendan Katin led off with a home run. But the RedHawks responded in the bottom of the inning, with Kevin Richardson leading off with a home run of his own and Esteban German delivering an RBI triple to take the lead 2-1.

Katin blasted his second homer of the game – and third of the night – in the seventh inning to tie the game to send it into extra innings.

Johnson (2-2) was credited with the loss after struggling with command in the 10th inning. He pitched two innings without giving up a hit, but his three walks produced the winning run. Cody Eppley (2-1) finished with the win after holding Nashville scoreless in his 1.1 innings of work.

The RedHawks have held a firm grasp on the division lead for much of the season, but have seen their lead slip in recent weeks. The Albuquerque Isotopes have nipping at OKC’s heels, and back-to-back losses for the RedHawks could have dropped their lead to 1.5 games.

Oklahoma City’s now remains at 2.5 games with five games left in the season.

Sounds 9, RedHawks 5

In the first game of the night, the RedHawks were doomed by one awful inning. Pitcher Tanner Scheppers, who has struggled through much of this season, entered in the fifth inning with OKC already down 2-0 and never got in a rhythm.

Of the first nine batters Scheppers faced, eight connected on base hits. The biggest hit in that span was a three-run home run by Katin, which gave the Sounds a total of seven runs in the inning and stretched the lead to 9-0.

The RedHawks tried to fight back, but it was too late. They scored a run in the bottom of the fifth on Taylor Teagarden’s first homer of the season, and then added four runs in bottom of the seventh to make the final score more respectable.

Omar Beltre (3-9) was credited with the loss, despite having a relatively solid start. He gave up just two runs on five hits in his stint, but Scheppers’ struggles made a comeback difficult. Chase Wright (8-8) earned the win and gave up one run on five hits in five innings.