RedHawks Top New Orleans in Slugfest

Originally Published: Jun 17, 2010 10:48 PM CDT

Gerald Goodridge
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma City RedHawks extended their win streak to five games with a 8-5 win against the New Orleans Zephyrs.

New Orleans (30-35) started the scoring off early in the top of the first when Danny Richar scored on a fielding error by Gregorio Petit.

Chris Davis put the RedHawks (38-28) back on top in the bottom of the first with a two-run home run to take a 2-1 lead.

Richar continued to provide offensively for the Zephyrs; his two-run double in the top of the third allowed New Orleans to take a 3-2 lead. Two batters later he scored on a Hector Luna ground out to push the lead to two runs.

New Orleans pulled starter Rick VandenHurk after he loaded the bases on back-to-back walks, but Petit capitalized with a bases-clearing double to take a 5-4 lead.

VandenHurk (4-4) was credited with the loss for the matchup after giving up five earned runs on four hits. Willie Eyre (3-3) came in as relief and received the win for his 1.1 innings of scoreless pitching.

Logan Morrison hit a solo home run in the top of the fifth for New Orleans to tie the game at 5-5, but Ryan Garko’s two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth reclaimed the lead for the RedHawks.

Oklahoma City added one more run in the bottom of the seventh on a Jarrod Saltalamacchia solo home run.

The RedHawks will now travel to Nashville for a four-game series with the Sounds before a rematch with New Orleans.