Pitching Powers Sky Sox Past I-Cubs 7-4

Strong pitching from the Colorado Springs Sky Sox gave them a 7-4 win over the Iowa Cubs in their series finale on Sunday afternoon at Security Service Field.  

In his first appearance since being traded from the Red Sox to the Brewers earlier in the week, starting pitcher Aaron Wilkinson (0-0, 0.00) was strong from start to finish in his first game with the Sky Sox.

In the first inning, Wilkerson set down the Cubs in order with a fly out, strike out, and ground out. In the second, he set down the Cubs with a pop up, ground out, and fly out. In the third, he pitched a clean inning with a fly out, ground out, and strikeout to retire the first nine batters he faced.

Iowa starter Drew Rucinski (5-8, 5.83) was also sharp from the start. In his first four innings, he allowed just one hit and no runs.  

The I-Cubs got their first hits of the game with two singles in the fourth. A walk loaded the bases with nobody out and Tim Federowicz heading to the plate. Wilkinson struck out Federowicz looking, and then induced a pop-up from Taylor Davis to record the second out. The newest Sky Sox worked around through the trouble by getting David Freitas to ground out to get through the inning unharmed.

In his Sky Sox debut, Wilkerson pitched four innings, allowing just two hits while walking one and striking out three.

Tyler Cravy came in for the fifth inning, but he had to leave after only two batters due to an undisclosed injury. Tim Dillard replaced him with runners on the corners and nobody out. Rucinski laid down a bunt to try and get the game's first run home, but Dillard hustled off the mound and made a glove flip to Rene Garcia at the plate to get the out. Dillard later struck out Matt Murton with the bases loaded for the second out, then induced a ground out from Mark Zagunis to leave the bases full of I-Cubs for the second straight inning.

Colorado Springs finally broke through against Rucinski in the fifth. Keon Broxton led off with a triple to right. A couple batters later, he came home to score the game's first run on a ground out from Rene Garcia. Dillard himself kept the inning alive with a two-out single. With the bases loaded, Nate Orf stepped to the plate and drew a walk on four pitches to score Dillard from third and give the Sky Sox a 2-0 lead after five.

Dillard returned to the mound in the sixth and set down the I-Cubs in order with a pair of strikeouts to keep the Sky Sox ahead. Dillard pitched two scoreless innings in relief with three strikeouts to earn his team-leading sixth win of the season.

Orf drove in another pair in the bottom half off the I-Cubs bullpen with a single to center that doubled the Sky Sox lead. Those runs proved to be the difference, as the I-Cubs scored three runs in the eighth off the Sky Sox bullpen to cut the Sky Sox lead to 4-3.

With a runner on base in the eighth, Keon Broxton crushed a two-run home run over the center field wall, his eighth of the season, to extend the Sky Sox lead. Kyle Wren added another run with a triple to give the Sky Sox a 7-3 lead going to the ninth.

Corey Knebel pitched the final inning and two thirds, allowing just one run while recording a strikeout to earn his second save of the season.

Orf led the way with three runs batted in for the Sky Sox, while Broxton recorded a pair of hits, runs scored, and runs batted in.

The All-Star break begins on Monday, with the Triple-A All-Star game to take place on Wednesday night in Charlotte, NC. Following the break, the Sky Sox will be in Tacoma for a four game series with the Rainiers beginning on Thursday night.