Sacramento Rallies but Falls Just Short Against Oklahoma City
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Sacramento River Cats tried to rally late in their contest against Oklahoma City, scoring three combined runs in the seventh and eighth innings, but their four-game winning streak was snapped due to a 5-3 Oklahoma City victory on Saturday. Two batters into the game and
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Sacramento River Cats tried to rally late in their contest against Oklahoma City, scoring three combined runs in the seventh and eighth innings, but their four-game winning streak was snapped due to a 5-3 Oklahoma City victory on Saturday.
Two batters into the game and Oklahoma City (24-20) secured a lead, as Andre Lipcius hit his 12th homer of the season and his second of the series in solo fashion to give the Baseball Club an early advantage.
They added on in the fourth with a Hunter Feduccia RBI single, then plated two in the sixth after an Austin Gauthier ground rule double set up Kody Hoese with an RBI opportunity, which he converted thanks to his knock into right field.
It wasn’t until the seventh when the River Cats (26-18) finally broke through on the scoreboard, doing so behind the power swing of Casey Schmitt. In his first game back to Sacramento since being optioned and sitting in an 0-1 count, he launched a solo homer over the wall in left center for his sixth dinger of the season.
Continuing the rally in the eighth, Sacramento plated two behind a pair of wild pitches from Oklahoma City hurler Kevin Gowdy, but that was as close as the River Cats could come as the Baseball Club added insurance in the top of the ninth with an RBI fielder’s choice from Trey Sweeney.
Despite the loss, Sacramento starter Spencer Howard (1-2) punched out nine hitters for a second straight outing, making him the first River Cat to strike out nine or more in consecutive starts since Conner Menez did so in three straight games from June 9-21, 2019. Over that stretch from Menez, he had 31 total strikeouts, with a single-game high of 12.
Hunter Bishop closed his night 1-for-4 and has hits in each of his five career games at Triple-A, while Donovan Walton was the only River Cat with a multi-hit game by going 2-for-4. Schmitt was also 1-for-4 with his homer, and Bench was 1-for-3 while scoring a run.
The River Cats will try to take five of six games in this series when the two teams take the field at Sutter Health Park tomorrow, with first pitch in the series finale at 1:05 p.m.