Quakes Hang On and Take Third Straight in Series

San Bernardino, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino put the tying run at third base and the winning run at first in the ninth inning on Thursday versus Rancho Cucamonga put could not punch through falling 6-5 at San Manuel Stadium. The 66ers have lost four games in a row and three straight to the Quakes in the series by a combined total of four runs. The Sixers are 3-for-41 in the with runners in scoring position and have fallen to 53-55 on the season.

The Quakes (62-49) jumped on Sixers’ starter Coleman Crow (4-3) from the outset in the first. Jake Vogel singled on the first pitch of the game and Edwin Mateo tripled him home on the second pitch of the contest for a 1-0 advantage. Jose Ramos followed with a RBI double making it 2-0. The Quakes stretched the lead to 4-0 later in the frame on a sac fly and RBI fielder’s choice capitalizing on the first five batters of the game reaching base. Quakes righty Jimmy Lewis walked the bases loaded to open the bottom of the first but gave up just one run on a sac fly by Jose Reyes. Inland Empire scored a run on an RBI single by Jose Guzman in the second and another in the third on a run-scoring wild pitch making it 4-3. Crow settled down and held the Quakes down until two outs in the fifth when Yeiner Fernandez notched a RBI single and Luis Diaz followed with a RBI double making it 6-3. Chase Chaney kept the Sixers in the contest in relief however, as the righty tossed four scoreless frames allowing four hits, no walks and struck out six batters. The 66ers whittled into the deficit in the seventh when Kevin Watson Jr. tripled to open the seventh and scored on Reyes’ second sac fly of the night. In the bottom of the ninth, Arol Vera reached on an infield single against Quakes righty Carlos De Los Santos (SV, 2). Watson followed two batters later with a double putting runners at second and third. Vera then scored Alexander Ramirez’s RBI ground out and pushed the tying runner to third but De Los Santos coaxed a chopper off the bat of Starling Gill to end the game on a fielder’s choice. The 66ers are now 11-16 against the Quakes who clinched the season series. Kyle Hurt (1-2) earned the win with 3.0IP giving up one hit, an unearned run, one walk and five Ks.

The series continues Friday at 7:05. The contest can be seen and heard live on 66ers.com.