Michael Blazek pitched the second-longest outing of his career and Garrett Cooper tied Andy Wilkins' season-high RBI total from 2016 to help the Colorado Springs Sky Sox defeat the Oklahoma City Dodgers, 5-2, Sunday afternoon at Security Service Field.
Michael Blazek pitched the second-longest outing of his career and Garrett Cooper tied Andy Wilkins' season-high RBI total from 2016 to help the Colorado Springs Sky Sox defeat the Oklahoma City Dodgers, 5-2, Sunday afternoon at Security Service Field.
Blazek (1-1, 3.89) earned his first win of the season by holding the Dodgers to two earned runs on five in 7.2 innings. The only time in Blazek's career where he has thrown more innings was back on September 3, 2010, as a member of the Quad Cities River Bandits in a 4-0 win against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.
Wei-Chung Wang (1, 1.65) earned his first save the year in a game where the Sox increased their division lead over the Dodgers to two games.
After the Dodgers scored a single run in their first at-bats, the Sky Sox (39-28) responded with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. After Garrett Cooper singled and Brett Phillips doubled, Nick Noonan legged out an infield single up the middle and a throwing error from Willie Calhoun allowed the second run to score.
Cooper drove in his 55th run of the season in the bottom of the third inning, driving in Kirk Nieuwenhuis on a double that evaded the dive of left fielder Mike Freeman. The first baseman drove in his second run of the game in the eighth inning, grounding a single past the drawn-in infield to plate Ryan Cordell. With the two RBI, Cooper tied Andy Wilkins' RBI total from a season ago, which was the team-high at season's end.
The Sox added a third run in the seventh inning. With two outs, Blazek doubled to the right-centerfield gap and would score one batter later as Kyle Wren lofted a single to the same spot to increase the lead to two runs and give the Sox leadoff batter RBI No. 29.
The two American North rivals continue the action under the lights with a 6:40 p.m. MT first pitch Monday night. LHP Brent Suter (3-1, 4.11) takes the mound for the Sky Sox against Oklahoma City RHP and Pacific Coast League strikeout leader Wilmer Font (5-3, 3.42) on an ARC Community Ticket Night. Fans can pick up complimentary ticket vouchers at any of the ARC Thrift Store locations across Colorado Springs.
