Wright Dominates Rawhide in 5-0 Blanking

The Bakersfield Blaze won their fourth game in a row in decisive fashion, riding Sean Buckley's big bat and Daniel Wright's dazzling start to an easy 5-0 shutout of the host Visalia Rawhide on Thursday night in Visalia.

The starters dueled through three scoreless innings, but the Blaze took the Rawhide to task in the middle frames, for the second night in a row beating up on a Diamondbacks first round selection.

Tonight, the unlucky recipient of the Blaze beatdown was Braden Shipley (L, 1-3), who allowed a Juan Perez RBI single in the 4th to fall behind 1-0 before the wheels came off in a four-run Blaze 5th.

Sammy Diaz, who is 6-for-12 as a Blaze, doubled to start the inning, and Yovan Gonzalez followed with an infield single. One out later, Zach Vincej grounded into a force play to score a run, giving Bakersfield a 2-0 lead, and after a walk to Jeff Gelalich, Sean Buckley unloaded on a towering homer to left, scoring three and putting Bako ahead 5-0.

For Buckley, his hot stretch continues, as the homer marked his second of the series and RBI 7, 8 and 9 in the last three days.

From there, Daniel Wright (W, 5-1) took over. The righty out of Bartlett, Tennessee was masterful, striking out a career-high 11 Rawhide batters over 7.0 scoreless innings, allowing just four hits without a walk. It was the third time in seven California League starts that Wright has gone 7.0 innings or more allowing one run or fewer.

El'Hajj Muhammad worked the 8th and James Allen, the 9th, as the Blaze shut out the Rawhide 5-0, swept the series, and moved a season-high 22 games over the 500 mark with the team's fourth straight victory. The club has also moved to 8-6 in the second half, winning 8 of 10 after losing the first four of the post-break schedule.

And now, the Blaze head home ...

Tomorrow night, the Blaze play host to the Modesto Nuts in the JULY 4TH INDEPENDENCE DAY FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR! The ballgame will sell out, and fans are encouraged to get tickets ahead of time at BakersfieldBlaze.com or by calling 661-716-4487.

Fans can also listen to the Game of the Week live locally on SmartTalk AM-1230 or globally at BakersfieldBlaze.com and TuneIn Radio as Dan Besbris brings the call.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:45pm; gates open at 6:45pm, and the broadcast begins roughly five minutes before first pitch.