The Fresno Grizzlies (23-15) improved to 12-6 at home and 9-4 in day games on Sunday afternoon in a Mother's Day matinee at Chukchansi Park, with a 6-4 victory over the Salt Lake Bees (22-16), in a matchup of first place clubs. Salt Lake buzzed out to a 1-0 lead
The Fresno Grizzlies (23-15) improved to 12-6 at home and 9-4 in day games on Sunday afternoon in a Mother's Day matinee at Chukchansi Park, with a 6-4 victory over the Salt Lake Bees (22-16), in a matchup of first place clubs.
Salt Lake buzzed out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, on a Jose Miguel Fernandez RBI single, scoring Michael Hermosillo (HBP), who moved to third on a Kaleb Cowart double. Fresno struck back in the second, tying the game on a Tim Federowicz (2-for-3) RBI double to the left field gap, which scored A.J. Reed from first base after a leadoff walk.
It was 2-1 Grizzlies after three innings when consecutive one-out singles by Drew Ferguson and Kyle Tucker led to a RBI groundout off the bat of J.D. Davis, his 30th run driven in of the still young season.
Fresno extended their lead to 6-1 with a big fourth; all nine went to the plate, collecting four hits and two walks. Tony Kemp extended his hit streak to 19 games with a bases-loaded two-run single to right, followed by a Tucker sac fly and a Davis RBI double up the line in left. Kemp, batting .349 during the streak with 19 runs scored, is within five games of his long hit streak of 2017 (24), which was the longest in Triple-A a season ago. The Fresno Grizzlies record hit streak is 32 games by Dave Doster, in 2004.
Following the first inning run, it was a shutdown day for Grizz starter Cy Sneed (3-2) in a winning decision. The right-hander worked six innings in a quality start, allowing just four hits and two walks, with six strikeouts. Bees' starter Ivan Pineyro dropped to 0-4, tagged with six earned runs on seven hits, with three walks and a strikeout in three and two-thirds innings of work.
Still leading 6-1 in the eighth, things tightened up considerably after Jabari Blash's 11th homer of the season, a three-run blast to left field with one out. Up 6-4 in the eighth, Fresno's Brendan McCurry entered with two out and worked an inning and a third of hitless relief, with a pair of strikeouts to convert his sixth save of the season. Alejandro Garcia went 2-for-4 with a run scored in the fourth as Fresno's other multi-hit effort in the win.
After taking the first two of this four-game set from the Bees, the Grizzlies will aim for a series win on Monday evening at Chukchansi Park, a 6:35 p.m. first pitch. Probable starters are RHP Félix Peña (0-1, 4.50) for Salt Lake, and RHP Mike Hauschild (2-3, 5.45) for Fresno, who are 4-2 against the Bees this season.
