Roenicke Does It All Early, Falters Late In 4-3 Loss
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - Josh Roenicke looked to be doing it all for the Sky Sox on Saturday night, holding the River Cats scoreless through four and driving home the only Sox runs before a tough sixth inning ultimately ended his evening and helped Sacramento to a 4-3 win before a crowd of 4,320 at Security Service Field.
The Sox would threaten in the home second after a clean first inning, loading the bases with two-out for Roenicke. The starter would not go down without a fight, working a full count after fouling off multiple pitches to stay alive before ultimately grounding out to end the frame.
Roenicke (2-2, 5.04) would follow the entertaining at-bat with an equally fun inning-ending play in the Sacramento third. With consecutive singles giving the River Cats runners on first and second with one out, Roenicke would astutely step of the rubber to look the going runners back before firing the ball to Pete Orr at third in hopes of catch Darren Ford stealing. Ford would eventually be tagged out by Yadiel Rivera who, in a heads-up play, threw to second to nab Casey McGehee trying to advance on the play, ending the frame with a rare 1-5-6-4 double play.
Both starters would match zeros through three before Roenicke helped his own cause in the home fourth to break through against Sacramento right-hander Clayton Blackburn. After failing to capitalize in his first bases-loaded at-bat of the game, the Sox starter would not miss his second chance, roping a Blackburn offering to right field for a two-out, two-run double to give himself a 2-0 lead. The unexpected hit would chase the River Cats starter after just 3.2 innings of work as they brought in former big league lefty specialist Clay Rapada to retire the lefty swing Scooter Gennett and limit further damage.
Sacramento's offense would avenge their starter, getting back at Roenicke with four runs over the next two innings to take a 4-2 lead by the middle of the sixth. The River Cats would score their runs by virtue of a wild pitch in the fifth and RBI singles by Hector Sanchez and Carlos Triunfel in the sixth. Roenicke was replaced by Jed Bradley with one on and two outs in the frame. The lefty reliever would not record an out, loading the bases on two consecutive walks before being pulled by manager Rick Sweet in favor of right-hander Ariel Pena. Pena did not fare much better, allowing the Triunfel base-hit to give Sacramento a then two-run lead.
Despite being held scoreless by right-hander Cory Gearrin (1-0, 1.23) in the fifth, the Sox offense would continue to battle, cutting their deficit to one in the home sixth thanks to a little small ball. Pete Orr would draw a two-out walk against River Cats reliever Brett Bochy to extend the inning and steal second immediately with Robinzon Diaz at the plate. The hot-hitting Diaz kept up his recent string of strong production, driving Orr home with an RBI single to left. Tim Dillard took over for Colorado Springs in the top of the seventh, tossing two perfect innings while striking out three to keep the Sox in the ballgame.
The home eighth would see the Sox with their best chance to tie up, or even take a lead in the game's latter stages as a Yadiel Rivera leadoff walk and Robinzon Diaz one-out single gave the Sox runners on the corners against River Cats reliever Cody Hall. Pinch-hitter Chris Nelson would strike out on a foul tip before the Sacramento right-hander got Scooter Gennett to fly out to deep left field, ending the threat and sending Colorado Springs into the ninth still trailing 4-3.
In territory rarely visited, former Sox starter Nick Addion came on in the ninth in hopes of keeping the River Cats offense off the scoreboard. After back-to-back singles and a double steal opened the frame, the crafty left-hander would work his way out of a runners on second and third, no-out situation. Additon struck out Hall swinging before Robinzon Diaz gunned down Juan Perez at third base as the runner strayed too far from the bag. Now with two-out and just one on, Additon would comfortably strike out Darren Ford, giving the Sky Sox a chance to pull it out in the bottom of the ninth.
The Sky Sox would go down in order in the ninth as Hall recorded his first save of the season to secure the 4-3 win and snap Sacramento's franchise record 10-game losing streak. Colorado Springs falls to 19-29 with the loss as the River Cats improve to 22-28.
The Sox will look to get back on the horse on Sunday afternoon in the third game of this four-game set with Sacramento. Drew Gagnon (1-6, 7.78) will lead the charge against River Cats righty Robert Coello (5-3, 3.45) with first pitch set for 1:35 PM MDT at Security Service Field.