CHIHUAHUAS BITE BACK TO EVEN SERIES WITH 9-1 VICTORY

POSTGAME NOTES
Wednesday, July 25, 2018 vs. El Paso Chihuahuas (SD)
Colorado Springs Sky Sox (55-46) | El Paso Chihuahuas (55-48)
CHIHUAHUAS BITE BACK TO EVEN SERIES WITH 9-1 VICTORY
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - After a 13-1 Colorado Springs rout over El Paso Tuesday night, the Chihuahuas bit back to even the series with a 9-1 victory over the Sky Sox on 12 hits, including a two-home run game by Chihuahuas veteran infielder Allen Craig while also going 5-for-5 with five RBI. El Paso arm Walker Lockett, who came into the day with three wins and nine losses, marked his first win since June 24 while tying for a season-low in hits allowed with four. Orlando Arcia highlighted the Sky Sox low-hit affair with an RBI double to break the shutout in the sixth and plate the home squad's only run.
After plating just one run a night before, the Chihuahuas turned the tables and got their offensive momentum going early in game two on a warm Colorado Springs afternoon. In the top of the first, two consecutive singles by leadoff Forrestt Allday and Luis Urías followed by a bases-clearing double by Craig manufactured the first two runs.
In the visiting second and third frames, El Paso continued with solo runs to extend to a 4-0 advantage. In the second, Auston Bousfield knocked a leadoff double to centerfield while a sacrifice bunt combined with a throwing error by Sky Sox starter Paolo Espino would allow the run to score. In the third, Craig tallied his third RBI on his 11th home run of the season.
The Sky Sox would come around, finally marking their first hit of the contest in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a single by Tyrone Taylor, breaking up Lockett's short no-hit bid. Then, in the bottom of the sixth, the home team came around to plate their first run and minimize the deficit to three on Orlando Arcia's RBI double to plate Jake Hager, who singled an at-bat prior.
El Paso, however, came back and extended the lead to 8-1 in the top of the seventh within the first six batters of the half. Allday led off with his third triple of the year while Urias was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners. After Francisco Mejía knocked a sacrifice fly ball to left field to plate Allday, Craig came up and powered his second home run of the day, marking his fourth and fifth RBIs. Then, following Shane Peterson's walk, Diego Goris brought home the eighth run on his RBI double to bring in the final eighth run.
El Paso capped off their day's scoring in the top of the eighth with two outs after Urias scored from second base on Shane Peterson's dropped fly ball in left field, resulting in an error with no RBI, bringing the score to 9-1.
The Sky Sox continue into the final game against the El Paso Chihuahuas tomorrow with a 6:40 p.m. first pitch. Following this series, the Sky Sox will welcome into town the Albuquerque Isotopes for a four-game set at Security Service Field. It will be the first and only time this season Colorado Springs plays El Paso and Albuquerque. For all information on Sky Sox, follow along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and visit the team's website at www.skysox.com.
__NOTES__
Tomorrow's Preview: The Sky Sox enter into the final game of the set with El Paso and third game of the seven-game homestand with a 6:40 p.m. first pitch to wrap up against the Chihuahuas. The Sky Sox are sending righty Aaron Wilkerson to the mound to face off against righty Brett Kennedy. Kennedy is seeking is 10th win while Wilkerson is in search for his fourth.
Blanco Makes It 5: After being four-hit consecutive times on the road in Memphis before beginning the series with El Paso, the Sky Sox found themselves in the same situation with four hits heading into the bottom of the ninth. Pinch-hitter Andrés Blanco made the difference with a laser single to left field to bring the total to five, avoiding another four-hit bid to an opponent. The Sky Sox collected their first hit in the fourth, two in the sixth, one in the seventh, and a final in the ninth.
Craig-Train: Veteran Allen Craig, who was signed by the Padres as a free agent in January 2018, knocked home runs 11 and 12 - marking his first multi-home run game of the season - while leading the team's offensive drive over the Sky Sox with five of the eight runs scoring off of his bat.
Espino's Eighth Go: Right-hander Paolo Espino made his eighth start for the Sky Sox this season, allowing a season-high in earned runs (3) as well as marking a season-high in hits allowed (7). He also tied for a season-high in strikeouts with seven, which he marked in his previous start against Round Rock on July 19.
Davis Is Dialed: Reliever Erik Davis tossed his third consecutive hitless, shutout outing on Wednesday afternoon. He has now combined for four innings while allowing no hits, no runs with one walk and four strikeouts.
Sweet Tally: Manager Rick Sweet is eight regular season wins away to pass Brad Mills for the regular season wins as Sky Sox manager and 11 wins away to pass him in overall wins with the Sky Sox.
20 Hits: The Sky Sox tied for most hits in a game this season with 20 against El Paso on Tuesday. The Sky Sox set the milestone of 20 on April 30 against Nashville at home. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Orlando Arcia just missed marking the 21st of the night with a long drive to the right field wall, which was caught on a stretched leap by El Paso's Forrestt Allday.
Multi-Hit Barrage: Seven of the Tuesday night's nine batters in the Sky Sox lineup collected two hits or more. Tyrone Taylor, Domingo Santana, and Aaron Brooks collected two apiece while Andres Blanco, Orlando Arcia, and Jake Hager knocked three total. Jett Bandy was the top performer with his four-hit performance.
Good For Two: Catcher Jett Bandy collected his first multi-home run game of the season with the Sky Sox on Tuesday night against El Paso, combining for three RBI; he now has five total on the season. So far, the Sky Sox have combined for five multi-home games. It marks their second in eight days since Domingo Santana slugged two on July 17 at home against Round Rock,
10-Run Victory: The Sky Sox 13-1 victory Tuesday night against the Chihuahuas marked the fourth time the Colorado Springs squad has won by 10 runs or more in 2018. The last time the Sky Sox completed the feat was on June 15 against Las Vegas at home (15-2 score); the first time was on April 30 at home against Nashville (17-3). All four victories of 10 or more runs have happened at Security Service Field.
Brooks Comin' In Hot: Righty Aaron Brooks came in red hot on Tuesday in his 10th start with the Sky Sox. Brooks finished the night against El Paso after five and one-third innings while allowing just three hits, a solo run, a walk, and struck out six. Offensively, he helped his cause with two hits, including a double, a run, and an RBI.
RehAlbers: Brewers rehabbing right-hander Matt Albers made his first stint with the Sky Sox Tuesday night, tossing one and two-thirds scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth frames, striking out three and only allowing one hit.
Three-Homer Game: Tyler O'Neill becomes the ninth opponent to hit three homers in a game against the Sky Sox (five in Colorado Springs, four in opponent's park). It is the first time in over 21 years that an opponent has hit three homers against the Sky Sox in the opponent's park, last done by Paul Konerko on May 12th, 1997. List of the other three homer games against the Sky Sox: Stan Holmes (Edmonton), June 1st, 1988 in Edmonton, Shane Dugas (Albuquerque), August 12th, 1988 in Colorado Springs, Mark Davis (Edmonton), August 15th, 1990 in Colorado Springs, Craig Paquette (Tacoma), May 24th, 1994 in Colorado Springs, Rich Aude (Calgary), June 14th, 1996 in Calgary, Paul Konerko (Albuquerque), May 12th, 1997 in Albuquerque, Felipe Crespo (Fresno), May 14th, 1999 in Colorado Springs, Nate Gold (Oklahoma), July 28th, 2008 in Colorado Springs.
Century Mark: The Sky Sox played their 100th game of the 2018 season Sunday afternoon and hold a 54-45 record. At this time last season, the Sky Sox held first place position in the American Northern division with their 61-39 record.
Back-to-Back x2: Saturday marked only the third time in Sky Sox history where an opponent had back-to-back homers in two different innings in the same game. The other instances: June 25th, 1993 in Colorado Springs - Las Vegas' Dan Walters and Paul Gonzalez hit back-to-back homers in the 2nd inning off Lance Painter, then repeated the back-to-back homers in the 8th inning off Marcus Moore, as Las Vegas won 7-5. June 30th, 2000 in Tacoma - Tacoma's Brian Lesher, Chad Alexander, and Anthony Sanders hit back-to-back-to-back homers in the 3rd inning off Mike Saipe, then Chris Snopek and Mike Neill hit back-to-back homers in the 4th inning, also off Mike Saipe, as Tacoma won 15-3.
Walk Rhythm: Sky Sox pitching surrendered nine more walks Saturday night in Memphis. Just four nights ago, Sky Sox arms set a new high in walks this season with 11 total.
Burnes First W: Former Sky Sox arm Corbin Burnes (1-0) picked up his first major league win with two scoreless innings, bailing starter Chase Anderson out of a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam in the fifth. Kershaw was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch before Burnes struck out All-Star Matt Kemp and got cleanup hitter Max Muncy to fly out.
Bethancourt Leads:  Christian Bethancourt-who went into Friday night's contest against Memphis leading all Colorado Springs batters in home runs with 14-hit his 15th of the season with two outs and no one on in the sixth inning for the first run of the series, giving the Sky Sox a slim 1-0 advantage in doing so. The next closest Sky Sox batter in the homers category prior to Friday night's game was Tyrone Taylor, with a dozen longballs in the 2018 campaign at the onset of the three-game set versus the Redbirds.
Shut 'em Out:  The Sky Sox shut out the Memphis Redbirds on Friday night to kick off their three-game series in Tennessee, marking the second time in as many nights the Redbirds had been shut out. It was Colorado Springs' seventh shutout of the season, with their last coming on 6/24 in Iowa against the Cubs (2-0). All seven of the Sky Sox shutouts have come on the road, and all three times the Sky Sox have been shut out this year have also come on the road.
1-0:  Friday night's 1-0 Sky Sox win at Autozone Park marks the first time the Sky Sox have won a 1-0 game in Memphis. The Sky Sox were winless in five previous 1-0 games in Memphis: April 16th, 1998 at Tim McCarver Stadium, loss 1-0, April 22nd, 2003 at Autozone Park, Memphis 1-0 in 10 innings, June 19th, 2014 at Autozone Park, Memphis 1-0 in Game 1 of DH, June 29th, 2015 at Autozone Park, Memphis 1-0, and June 16th, 2017 at Autozone Park, Memphis 1-0. The Sky Sox have won both 1-0 games in Colorado Springs at Security Service Field: May 3rd, 2014 at Security Service Field, Sky Sox 1-0, and May 19th, 2014 at Security Service Field, Sky Sox 1-0 in 10 innings. The last 1-0 win for the Sky Sox with the lone run scoring on a homer was on June 24th, 2017, when Kyle Wren hit a lead-off homer to start the game at the Shrine on Airline, as the Sky Sox blanked the New Orleans Baby Cakes, 1-0.
This Week's Preview: The Sky Sox are in the midst of a seven-game homestand to host the El Paso Chihuahuas for three games, followed by a four-game set against the Albuquerque Isotopes. It will be the first and only time this season Colorado Springs plays El Paso and Albuquerque.
NEXT GAME: Thursday, July 26 at 6:40 p.m. MT vs. El Paso Chihuahuas (SD) @ Security Service Field
RHP Aaron Wilkerson (3-2, 1.82) vs. RHP Brett Kennedy (9-0, 2.53) - Broadcast on XTRA Sports 1300
Promotion: $3 Thirsty Thursday presented by Coors - $3 Parking, Upper Reserve Tickets, and Craft Beer
COS TOP PERFORMERS
 Orlando Arcia (1-for-4, 2B, RBI)
 Tyrone Taylor (1-for-3)
 Jake Hager (1-for-4, R)
ELP TOP PERFORMERS
 Allen Craig (5-for-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI)
 Forrestt Allday (2-for-3, 3B, 2 R, BB)
 Diego Goris (2-for-5, 2B, RBI)