Nate Orf provided an offensive spark and Junior Guerra led a quartet of pitchers to secure a 4-3 wire-to-wire win over the Salt Lake Bees in front of 6,638 at Smith's Ballpark Friday night.
Nate Orf provided an offensive spark and Junior Guerra led a quartet of pitchers to secure a 4-3 wire-to-wire win over the Salt Lake Bees in front of 6,638 at Smith's Ballpark Friday night.
The offense jumped out to a quick start against Bees LHP John Lamb, scoring three runs in the first two innings to take a 3-0 lead. Brett Phillips lined a 3-2 offering into right field, scoring Mauricio Dubón on the third straight single of the first inning. Orf added to the lead two batters into the second inning, clubbing his sixth home run of the season onto the berm in left field to drive in Chris Colabello.
Orf would play a role in the final Sky Sox run, leading off the sixth inning with a double for one of his game-high four hits. Two batters later, René García switched places with Orf by grounding a RBI two-bagger down the left field line to score the Sox second baseman and re-extend the lead to three runs.
Guerra (1-1, 3.18) earned the win in his second start for the Sox in 2017, allowing a single earned run on three hits in five innings. Paolo Espino and Jeanmar Gómez combined to strike out seven Bees and each struck out the side once to hold the lead, while Tyler Cravy earned his third save of the season by closing out the game in the ninth inning. With Las Vegas' 13-inning win over Oklahoma City, the Sky Sox increase their division lead to 8.5 games over the Dodgers.
Having taken the first two games of the four-game set in Utah, Colorado Springs (66-43) aims for a series victory Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. MT. RHP Angel Ventura (5-3, 4.47) takes the mound for the Sky Sox against Bees RHP Luis Diaz (4-9, 5.54).
