Gabriel Noriega had a season-high three hits and seven batters drove in at least one run as the Colorado Springs Sky Sox took game two with the Round Rock Express, 12-8, in front of 3,876 at Security Service Field Wednesday night.
Gabriel Noriega had a season-high three hits and seven batters drove in at least one run as the Colorado Springs Sky Sox took game two with the Round Rock Express, 12-8, in front of 3,876 at Security Service Field Wednesday night.
The Express jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two and a half innings, but the Sky Sox (33-22) responded and cut the lead in half with two runs in the bottom of the third. Ivan De Jesus lined a two-run double to the right-centerfield gap, scoring Noriega and Kyle Wren for his 21st and 22nd RBI of the season.
Round Rock (28-31) would tack on a fifth run in the top of the sixth inning, but the Sox offense erupted for eight runs in the bottom half of the inning, sending 13 batters to the plate to take their first lead. Ryan Cordell opened the offense with a two-run, line-drive home run over the left field wall, scoring Lewis Brinson for his seventh home run of the season.
After a Nate Orf triple, Kirk Nieuwenhuis tied the score with a RBI single to right field over the shift. With two outs, Noriega hit a Baltimore chop over the drawn-in infield for his third hit, scoring Nieuwenhuis and Yadiel Rivera. Three batters later, Brinson grounded an opposite-field single to right field to plate Noriega and Wren.
Orf chipped in with a RBI of his own, capping off the inning with a single to left field to score Brinson and give the Sox double-figure runs for the 10th time in 2017. Rivera added a pair of RBI in the eighth inning, grounding a single past shortstop Hanser Alberto to score Cordell and Orf to conclude the offense.
Sox starter Brent Suter took a no-decision, but managed to tie his season-high with seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. Tristan Archer (2-1, 4.07) pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief to earn the win, while Tyler Cravy and David Goforth combined for the final two innings.
The four-game series between the Sky Sox and the Express continues with game three Wednesday night at 6:40 p.m. MT. Right-hander Michael Blazek (0-0, 1.95) looks to continue his recent string of shutdown starts when he faces Round Rock righty Eddie Gamboa (4-5, 7.52). Wednesday is also the second Bark in the Park of the season, presented by Wag-N-Wash. The first 500 dogs and their owners will be able to take in the action from the left field berm.
