The Colorado Springs Sky Sox tied a season-high by striking out 15 batters in a 4-0 shutout over the Round Rock Express in front of 10,213 at Dell Diamond Friday night.
The Colorado Springs Sky Sox tied a season-high by striking out 15 batters in a 4-0 shutout over the Round Rock Express in front of 10,213 at Dell Diamond Friday night.
In his first start since going a season-long 7 1/3 innings July 2 in Omaha, Angel Ventura (4-1, 3.00) shut down the Express over 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander allowed three hits and struck out a season-high eight, doubling his previous season-high of four.
Tyler Cravy, Wei-Chung Wang and David Goforth combined to strike out seven Express batters, leading the Sox to tie a season-high in strikeouts. The Sox also struck out 15 batters June 17 against Oklahoma City at Security Service Field.
The Sky Sox (55-32) jumped out to a quick lead three batters into the game. Brett Phillips drove in run No. 61 on a sacrifice fly to deep left field, scoring Mauricio Dubón. Garrett Cooper then added to the lead, crushing a two-run home run off the building in straightaway centerfield. Lewis Brinson scored on Cooper's 17th home run of 2017, completing the 3-run first inning.
The visitors added another run to their total in the sixth inning. After a pair of walks knocked Round Rock starter David Ledbetter from the game, Nick Noonan lofted the second Sox sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Cooper with the bases loaded and giving Colorado Springs a 4-0 advantage.
The Sky Sox look to clinch the quick three-game series Saturday evening at 5:05 p.m. MT. RHP Bubba Derby (2-0, 2.16) takes the mound against Round Rock for the first time in his career against Express RHP James Dykstra (0-3, 9.00).
