Raptors Even Series with Sunday Win

Colorado Springs, COLORADO - The Vibes captured a thrilling walkoff victory on Saturday night, but on Sunday afternoon the Ogden Raptors evened the series at 1-1 with an 8-3 win over the Vibes. In a game that saw that Raptors in control for most of the day, the Vibes had a bright spot when outfielder Carlos Rodriguez extended his current hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the contest.
The Raptors scored first in the Vibes' final home day game of 2019, with a single run in the top of the second inning. Despite Rocky Mountain starter Michele Vassalotti getting the first two outs of the frame, he hit the third batter of the inning, then walked the fourth to put two on. Marco Hernandez then hit an RBI single to plate Jon Littell for the first score of the day.
After a scoreless third inning, the Raptors extended their lead in the fourth. Ogden scored on an RBI double to make it 2-0, before a three-run homer off the bat of Brandon Lewis made it a 5-0 affair, which served to be enough to knock Vibes starter Vassalotti from the game. He was replaced on the mound by Steve Pastora, who pitched his way out of the inning without further damage.
In the bottom half of the frame the Vibes responded, breaking up the shutout. Joe Gray Jr.-the hero of last night's game-got the ball rolling with a one-out single, advancing to third on a Bryan Torres single on the very next pitch. An Ogden error allowed Gray Jr. to score for the Vibes first run of the game. Micah Bello then reached on a single, and Jess Williams lined the Vibes' fourth single in a row to score Torres. Edwin Sanó followed up with a groundout that scored Bello to make it a 5-3 ballgame.
However, in the top of the sixth inning, Ogden extended their lead by another run to make it a three-run game at 6-3.
In the top of the eighth, the Raptors tacked on another two runs to take a commanding 8-3 lead.
That score would hold as the Raptors tied the series up at one game apiece.
The Vibes are home for their second-to-last homestand of 2019, set to wrap up on 8/24. The Vibes will host the Ogden Raptors for a four-game set followed by a four-game series against the Orem Owlz before the team heads out on their final road trip of the year on 8/26. For all information on the Vibes, follow along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @vibesbaseball and visit the team's website at www.vibesbaseball.com.
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Tomorrow's Preview: The Vibes continue their eight-game homestand with the third game of a four-game series against the Ogden Raptors, with first pitch set for 6:40 p.m. The Raptors are slated to start righty Alfredo Tavarez (1-2, 2.54) against Vibes right-hander RHP Carlos Luna (2-4, 4.09). The game will be available on MiLB.TV as well as the MiLB TuneIn app.
Rodriguez Streaking: Since joining the Vibes on 7/25, Carlos Rodriguez has become an offensive mainstay for the team, posting not just one but two four-hit games (8/8 @ BIL & 8/14 @ GTF), becoming the first and only Vibes player with two four-hit games. Coming into this homestand, Rodriguez had an active eight-game hitting streak which tied the longest for any Vibes hitter this season. He extended that to a Vibes-best nine games on Saturday night with a single, and to 10 games on Sunday afternoon with a single in the bottom of the eighth inning. In those 10 games, Rodriguez had multiple hits in three of them for 17 total hits including a triple, a walk, a stolen base, and five runs. Through his first 19 games, Rodriguez had hits in all but two of them, starting his tenure with the Vibes with a four-game hitting streak, then going 0-for-4 on 7/30, then having a three-game hitting streak before going 0-for-4 on 8/3, before launching into his current hitting streak.
Goodnight Gray!: Joe Gray Jr. lifted his first homer of the season Saturday night in walk-off fashion, blast­ing a solo shot to left for the 7-6 Vibes win. The homer marked the first Vibes walk-off homer of the season. With Gray Jr. hitting the first walk-off homer in Vibes history, it marks the first time since the Triple-A era. The last time a Colorado Springs player had a walk-off homer was Nate Orf, who hit a walk-off solo homer in the bottom of the 8th inning on July 16th, 2017, off Iowa pitcher Jack Leathersich, to win game 2 of a DH against the Cubs, 5-4 in 8 innings. The last Colorado Springs walk-off homer in the 9th inning took place on June 18th, 2016, when Will Middlebrooks hit a walk-off grand slam homer in the bottom of the 9th inning, off Omaha's Kevin McCarthy, as the Sky Sox beat the Storm Chasers, 8-5.
Big Audience: Saturday night's crowd of 7,048 is the largest crowd for the Vibes this inaugural season. The crowd is the largest at UCHealth Park since the Triple-A Sky Sox beat the Oklahoma City Dodgers, 8-2 on August 31st, 2018, in front of a crowd of 8,998 at Security Service Field. The 8,998 game on 8/31/2018 was the largest crowd after the 2006 stadium renovation, when the picnic section and banquet facilities were built., and the 5th largest all-time. The largest crowd ever in this stadium (pre-renovation) was 9,505 on July 4th, 2004 against the Omaha Royals.
Bad Luck Begue: In Thursday night's series finale against the Great Falls Voyagers, despite throwing five strong innings, allowing just one run on five hits with no walks and a pair of strikeouts, starter Brock Begue ended up taking the loss in the 1-0 shutout to fall to 1-4 on the season. Begue has now found himself on the unfortunate losing end of the Vibes' last three shutout losses, suffering the 1-0 loss on 8/15 in Great Falls against the Voyagers, suffering another 1-0 loss back in Game One of a doubleheader against the Ogden Raptors in the Springs on 8/2 (falling to 1-3 on the season at the time), and taking the loss in the 12-0 blowout shutout back on 7/15 in the Springs against the Voyagers again (with Begue falling to 0-1 on the season at the time).
Torres Swipes: Bryan Torres stole his 14th and 15th bags of the season on 8/13 and 8/14 to move him into sole possession of second place (as of 8/17) in the Pioneer League in steals, behind only Eddy Diaz of the Grand Junction Rockies who leads the league with 20. As of 8/17, Torres led all of the Rocky Mountain squad in not just steals, but also batting average (.288), hits (49), doubles (10), RBI (23), and on-base percentage (.372).
Trouble Getting Started: With the loss to Great Falls last Monday night in game one of that four-game series, the Vibes fell to a dismal 4-13 record in game one's this season. However, with the walkoff win on Saturday night in game one of the four-game series against the Raptors, the Vibes improve to 5-13 with a win in game one over Ogden.
Vibes vs. Pioneer Northern Review: The Thursday night contest against the Great Falls Voyagers marked the final time the Vibes would face a Northern Division opponent in the regular season. The Vibes finished 7-9 against their two opponents, 4-4 against the Billings Mustangs and 3-5 against the Great Falls Voyagers.
Dominant Hitting: The Vibes offense showed up in a big way on Tuesday night against the Voyagers with 15 total hits, which tied the Vibes season-high in hits, which came way back on 6/16 in the third game of the season in Orem against the Owlz. Every Vibes hitter collected at least one hit on the night, with two Vibes hitters collecting two (Avalo and Kahle) and another two getting three hits on the night (Gray Jr. and Sano).
...and Even More Dominant Pitching: On Tuesday night the Vibes pitching staff pitched arguably their best game of the year. Starter Carlos Luna collected his second quality start of the season, throwing six scoreless innings while only allowing two hits and one walk while striking out 11 Voyagers batters, which not only marks the most strikeouts by a Vibes pitcher ever, but also ties a career high for Luna, who struck out 11 back on 6/20/15 against the DSL Red Sox 2. Brady Schanuel struck out six in relief to raise his season total to 61, which leads the entire Vibes staff, and Taylor Floyd closed out the ninth inning adding a strikeout of his own to bring the Vibes' total on the night to 18 punchouts. That unseated the previous high of strikeouts in a game for the Rocky Mountain staff (16), which had been accomplished twice this season with the last occurrence coming on 7/26 in Grand Junction against the Rockies.
Penultimate Homestand: The Vibes are currently in the midst of their second-to-last homestand of 2019, set to culminate on 8/24. Their final road trip is set to begin on 8/26 in Ogden and conclude on 9/2 in Grand Junction. The final homestand will run from 9/3-9/7, with all five of those final games being played against the Grand Junction Rockies prior to the 2019 season ending on 9/7.
This Week's Preview: The Vibes are home for their second-to-last homestand of 2019, set to wrap up on 8/24. The Vibes will host the Ogden Raptors for a four-game set followed by a four-game series against the Orem Owlz before the team heads out on their final road trip of the year on 8/26.
NEXT GAME: Monday, August 19 @ 6:40 p.m. MT vs. Ogden Raptors @ UCHealth Park
RHP Alfredo Tavarez (1-2, 2.54) vs. RHP Carlos Luna (2-4, 4.09) - Broadcast: MiLB TuneIn app
PROMOTION: Community Ticket Day presented by Academy Mortgage
RMV TOP PERFORMERS
   Bryan Torres (2-for-3, R, BB)
      Steve Pastora (1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB)
    Arman Sabouri (1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB)
OGD TOP PERFORMERS
    Brandon Lewis (3-for-5, HR, R, 3 RBI)
      Andy Pages (2-for-3, 2 2B, 3 R, RBI, 2 BB)
    Zac Ching (2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, BB)