Cats Claim Walk-Off Win Thanks to Munguia Homer

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Sacramento River Cats walked off victorious in their series opener against Oklahoma City on Tuesday thanks to Ismael Munguia, as he launched a two-run blast in the bottom of the ninth for a 3-1 Sacramento win.

Scoring started in the first thanks to Oklahoma City (23-17), plating a run just three batters into the contest when Drew Avans, who had reached with a leadoff single, scored from first on a double into the left-field corner by Miguel Vargas.

River Cats (23-17) starter Carson Seymour was sharp from that point forward, sitting down the side in order in the second and fifth frames while allowing only one base runner in each the third and fourth.

Matching him in the early goings was Dinelson Lamet, and it wasn’t until the fifth when Sacramento broke onto the scoreboard thanks to the work of the recently promoted Hunter Bishop. His liner into center field opened the inning, he moved himself into scoring position with a stolen base, and eventually made his way to third where he crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly from Turner Hill.

The fifth could have been a bigger inning for the River Cats, who continued to push and had runners at second and third with two outs but failed to capitalize. A similar story happened in the sixth when singles from Justin Bench and Trenton Brooks placed runners at the corners with no outs, but two strikeouts and a ground out helped Oklahoma City escape without damage.

That seemed to be a theme of the game for both sides, as the two teams combined to go 0-for-16 with runners in scoring position, stranding a combined 13 runners on base (eight for Sacramento).

When it seemed as if the game might head into extra innings, up to the plate stepped Munguia with Hill standing on first base thanks to an infield single. Down to the final out of the inning and sitting in a 1-0 count, Munguia ambushed a pitch and hammered it deep over the wall in left field, giving the River Cats a 3-1 victory.

That improved Sacramento’s record to 3-0 in walk-off games, with all three walk-off victories coming from a home run with the first two each coming from the bat of Brett Wisely. It is the first time since the 2022 campaign in which the River Cats have hit three or more walk-off homers.

For Munguia, it was his first home run of the season in his 26th game of the campaign. After ending the day 2-for-4, he now has hits in six of his past seven games (10-for-26, .385), with four of those contests being two-hit days.

While Seymour went 5.0 innings for the second time this season, striking out a season-high tying seven batters in the process with three hits allowed, it was right-hander Justin Garza (3-0) who earned the win. He tossed the final two innings of the day and did not allow a run, scattering two hits with two strikeouts. It was Garza’s ninth outing of the season without allowing a run of any kind, and he lowered his season ERA to 0.83. Also key in that stretch was two hitless frames from Clay Helvey.

Both teams will be back in action on Wednesday, with a return of evening baseball as first pitch from Sutter Health Park is tossed at 6:45 p.m. (PT).