FRESNO, CA - An offensive onslaught combined with a dominant pitching performance from Casey Kelly gave the Sacramento River Cats (42-55) a 12-2 win over the Fresno Grizzlies (55-41) on Wednesday evening.
FRESNO, CA - An offensive onslaught combined with a dominant pitching performance from Casey Kelly gave the Sacramento River Cats (42-55) a 12-2 win over the Fresno Grizzlies (55-41) on Wednesday evening.
The River Cats offense was nothing short of explosive on Wednesday, with a four-run third inning and a six-run fifth. After not hitting a home run in their previous four games, Sacramento left the yard twice in the fifth inning with Mac Williamson hitting his 11th and Jerry Sands crushing his first long ball since joining the River Cats. Sands would add his second homer in the ninth, as Sacramento would take control of the game and never relinquish it.
Pitching with plenty of run support, right hander Casey Kelly shined in this one, recording a season-high ten strikeouts in seven innings for his best outing of the season. Kelly no-hit the Grizzlies through four innings before allowing his first hit in the fifth. He gave up just three hits total on the night to earn his team-high ninth win of the season.
In the series finale, Giants' seventh ranked prospect Shaun Anderson (0-0, No ERA) will be making his Triple-A debut fresh off his trip to the MLB Future's Game. Fresno will counter with fellow right-hander Mike Hauschild (7-6, 4.71). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. (PT). Catch all of the action live online at rivercats.com, on the MiLB First Pitch app, and on the air on Money 105.FM.
Additional Notes
· Sands, in just his seventh game with Sacramento, is the first River Cats batter to hit two home runs in a game this season since Chris Shaw mashed two on June 25.
· Led by center fielder Peter Bourjos (4-for-5), the River Cats first four batters combined to go 12-for-19 with eight runs and eight RBI.
· The River Cats have now scored ten or more runs in five games this season and are 4-1 in those games.
