RedHawks Bury Isotopes With Early Scoring

Originally Published: Jun 10, 2010 10:22 PM CDT

Dave Carty
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY - A flourish of early offense gave the Oklahoma City RedHawks a definitive advantage, culminating in a 10-6 win over the Albuquerque Isotopes in the first of a four-game set Thursday.

The first four RedHawks reached to begin the game, creating early problems for Albuquerque starter Tim Corcoran.

A walk was followed by a string of singles, including RBI base knocks for Brandon Boggs and Chris Davis.

After a visit from pitching coach Jim Slaton, Corcoran settled down to strike out Ryan Garko and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, but Boggs drove in two more runs on a single to left field before the inning could end with a 4-0 Oklahoma City lead.

Albuquerque (30-28) strung together a couple of hits to threaten in the top of the third, including a Chin-Lung Hu double off the glove of second baseman Hernan Iribarren. A pair of sacrifices by Jamie Hoffman and Ivan DeJesus cut the lead in half to 4-2.

But the bottom of the frame had the RedHawks (33-26) offense back doing damage. Three straight hits led off the inning and an Iribarren RBI single chased Corcoran (4-6) from the game after just 2.1 innings, allowing eight earned runs on eight hits.

Reliever Hyang-Nam Choi allowed an inherited runner to score on an Esteban German double, then walked Gregorio Petit to load the bases for Boggs. The center fielder doubled to plate two more and bring the lead to 9-2. Finally Gregorio Petit came in to score, increasing the lead to 10-2 on an 8-3-5 double play sacrifice play for Garko.

His counterpart Guillermo Moscoso (3-2) pitched well until a disastrous sixth, allowing four runs including home runs to Prentice Redman and Lucas May without recording an out. He lasted five innings, earning the win despite allowing six runs.

Reliever Willie Eyre quieted the rally with three straight outs, leaving after two hitless innings.

After early struggles, Choi found his footing, keeping the RedHawks scoreless through four innings before giving way to Jesus Rodriguez in the eighth.

Neither team managed to score over the final three innings as Alexi Ogando induced the Isotopes’ final six outs.

Back at the Brick

It hasn’t exactly been home sweet home for the RedHawks, who had dropped seven of their previous eight home games. Though the Thursday night win put Oklahoma City over the .500 mark. Its record at home now stands at 15-14.

Power Outage

For all those runs scored, the RedHawks failed to hit a home run on the night, breaking up a streak of three games in which they had done so. The RedHawks have gone deep 52 times, fifth-most in the PCL, led by Chad Tracy’s eight.

Irish Eyes are Smiling

For what it’s worth, when the NBA Finals Game 4 score was announced midway through the fourth quarter with the Boston Celtics holding a six-point lead, the remnants of the 11,128 Oklahomans in attendance applauded in approval.

I guess those memories of the Thunder’s first round loss are still pretty fresh.