Grizz beat Cats 3-1 in final Highway 99 Rivalry meeting of 2019

Fresno, CA (Thursday, July 25) - The Fresno Grizzlies (53-51) avoided a sweep at the hands of the Sacramento River Cats (56-48) on Thursday night, rallying for a 3-1 victory after two sterling six-inning outings by starters Dereck Rodríguez (Sacramento) and Wil Crowe (Fresno). Rodriguez did not allow a run and only two hits (seven strikeouts), while Crowe responded by holding the visitors to only six hits and a run (five strikeouts).
The River Cats broke the scoreless tie in the sixth inning, when Chris Shaw led off with a triple and scored on a Cristhian Adames RBI single. The lead was short-lived, after the Grizzlies tied and took the lead on a pair of solo home runs in the seventh; José Marmolejos (14) and Brandon Snyder (24) went deep. Both were off Sacramento reliever Dillon McNamara, who entering the game, had not allowed a home run in 17 games and 19.0 innings pitched in the PCL this season.
The 24 homers for Snyder, 32, is a new career-high already. He hit 23 in 2017 over 121 games for Triple-A Syracuse (International League) during his first stint with the Washington Nationals.
With Fresno still leading 2-1 in the eighth inning, Matt Reynolds scored after a single, when Jake Noll narrowly missed a home run to centerfield, instead settling for a double off the wall and one insurance run. James Bourque would not need the extra padding, working around a two-out base hit to secure his second save with a strikeout in the ninth.
Carter Kieboom went 2-for-4, extending his season-best hit streak to 12 games (19-for-55, .345). Noll's RBI double stretched his hit streak to 10 games (17-for-40, .425), also a season-high. 
Top Performers: Fresno Grizzlies (Washington Nationals)
• RHP Wil Crowe (6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 2B)
• 1B Jose Marmolejos & 2B Brandon Snyder (Solo HR)
• 3B Jake Noll (1-3, 2B, RBI, BB)
Top Performers: Sacramento River Cats (San Francisco Giants)
• RHP Dereck Rodriguez (6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K)
• LF Chris Shaw (1-2, 3B, R, 2 BB)
Next Game

ON THAT FRES-NOTE: Fresno completed their 26^th series of the season on Thursday, and with the win, have still not been swept in a series of any length this season. The Grizzlies swept their first series of 2019 over last weekend, three games at Reno.