Cycle, Home Run Derby Back Bubba's Gem

Nate Orf hit for the cycle and the Colorado Springs Sky Sox recorded five home runs to back Bubba Derby's strong performance in the 11-1 series-opening win over the Oklahoma City Dodgers in front of 5,314 at Security Service Field Saturday night.

The Dodgers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but the Sky Sox (73-51) responded two batters into their first at-bats. Kyle Wren drew a leadoff walk and Orf took advantage of a hanging Eddie Gamboa pitch by launching it 401 feet over the left field walk to give the hosts a 2-1 lead.
Video: Orf goes yard for Sky Sox
The Sox hit their second home run the second time through the lineup, extending the lead to 3-1 in the third inning. On a full count, Brett Phillips launched a 396-foot long ball over the right field wall for his 18^th home run of the season with two outs.
Video: Sky Sox's Phillips makes great grab
The hosts broke the game open with a six-run fifth inning. Five straight hits opened the frame, with Chris Colabello opening the scoring with a line-drive single to left field to score Orf. One batter later, Phillips crushed his second home run of the game to right field-a three-run shot to score Ivan De Jesus and Colabello. The multi-homer game was the third of the season for Phillips and the first since May 16 in El Paso.
Video: Sky Sox's Phillips hits second long ball
Tyler Heineman launched his second home run of the season during the ensuing at-bat, increasing the lead to 8-1. The Sox hit back-to-back home runs for the third time in 2017 and first since Mauricio Dubón and Lewis Brinson achieved the feat on July 5 against Nashville.
The home run derby continued in the sixth inning. Colabello greeted OKC reliever Joe Broussard with a leadoff solo shot down the right field line. The opposite-field long ball gave the Sox five home runs, one shy of the team0-high six long balls hit July 2 in Omaha.
De Jesus would drive in a run of his own on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Henry Ramos in the seventh inning. Orf scored on the play after hitting a one-out triple for the first Sky Sox cycle since Dexter Fowler achieved the feat on June 20, 2010, against the Las Vegas 51s.
Video: Sky Sox's Orf finishes the cycle
In his first appearance against the Dodgers, Derby (4-0, 3.38 ERA) earned his second straight win by tossing a season-high seven innings of one-run, four-hit ball with seven strikeouts. The seven innings marked a new season-high for the right-hander while his seven strikeouts tied a season-high set July 8 in Round Rock. Wei-Chung Wang finished the game by tossing a pair of scoreless innings, dropping his ERA to 1.96.
With the win, the Sox increase their PCL American Northern Division lead to eight games with 15 games left to play. The win also drops Colorado Springs' magic number to nine as the Sox look to clinch their first playoff berth since 1997.
RHP Junior Guerra (1-2, 3.15 ERA) takes the hill for the Sox during game two of the four-game series. The Colorado Springs right-hander faces PCL strikeout leader and Oklahoma City RHP Wilmer Font (9-7, 3.30 ERA) at 1:30 p.m. MT. During all Sunday home games, kids get a chance to run the bases postgame and all fans are treated to 50-cent hot dogs, courtesy of Safeway.