Sky Sox Offense Stifled In 7-0 Loss
The Colorado Springs Sky Sox were held scoreless in the second game of their series against the Round Rock Express, as Round Rock starter Michael Roth pitched a complete game shutout to lead his team to a 7-0 win on Sunday night at Dell Diamond.
The game started as a pitcher's duel, as neither starter got into much early trouble.
In the second, the Sky Sox were the beneficiaries of a little luck on the field. After Hansel Alberto reached on a single with one out, Kyle Kubitza stepped to the plate. With Alberto running, Kubitza lined the ball right to second baseman Orlando Arcia, who made the catch and tagged Kubitza by the second base bag to turn the unassisted double play and end the inning.
The Express broke through off Sky Sox starter Wily Peralta (0-2, 10.97) in the fourth. With one out, catcher Brett Nichols homered to right-center to score the game's first run.
Round Rock added another run off Peralta in the fifth as Drew Robinson drew a bases loaded walk off Peralta to get the second run home for the Express. After that, the Sky Sox turned to Sam Freeman out of the bullpen. The first batter he faced, James Jones, doubled to left to score another pair of runs to put Round Rock up 4-0. But Freeman rebounded to end the inning with a pair of strikeouts leave the bases full of Express to end the fifth.
Peralta pitched four innings on the mound, allowing four earned runs on five hits while striking out four.
His Round Rock counterpart, Michael Roth (7-3, 2.66), was nearly perfect from the start. He retired the first eight Sky Sox batters he faced before Eric Young Jr. drew a walk with two outs in the third. Michael Reed reached on an error to start the fourth, but the Express quickly erased him with a double play.
Through the first six innings, Roth faced just one more batter than the minimum without allowing a hit to the Sky Sox.
In the seventh, Reed led off with a sinking line drive to right, but Jones, the right fielder, slid to make the shoestring catch to get the first out. A groundout from Arcia and a fly out from Andy Wilkins kept the no-hitter alive for Roth through seven.
After getting the first out in the eighth, Roth finally surrendered a hit. Catcher Josmil Pinto crushed a fly ball deep off the center field wall for a triple for the first Sky Sox hit of the night. But Roth got the final two outs in the inning to keep the Sky Sox scoreless. The seven and a third innings is the longest a pitcher has taken a no-hitter in the Pacific Coast league so far this seaon.
In relief for the Sky Sox, Freeman pitched three scoreless innings while striking out four to keep the Sky Sox down four.
After the Express tallied three runs of Drew Gagnon in the eighth, Roth returned to the mound and worked around a single from Jake Elmore in the ninth to finish the complete game shutout. Roth allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out three to earn the win.
The Sky Sox continue their matchup with the Express on Monday night. Josh Hader (0-2, 6.00) is set to get the start for the Sky Sox against Austin Bibens-Dirx (0-1, 6.48). First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. MDT.