Reyes Homers but Grizzlies Fall at Inland Empire

BOX SCORE

A solo home run was the only offense the Fresno Grizzlies (3-3) provided in a 5-1 loss to the Inland Empire 66ers (2-4) Thursday night at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino.

Yeiker Reyes blasted a solo homer off Inland Empire starter Yeferson Vargas but that was all for the Fresno bats that were otherwise kept off the board by four 66ers.

Grizzlies starter Ismael Luciano worked in and out of trouble against the Inland Empire offense.

The starting pitchers traded zeroes in the first and Fresno was held quiet in the second, but Inland Empire strung together a pair of walks to start the inning.

When Jonathan Linares singled into right field, the 66ers tried to send Matt Coutney home from second but Felix Tena unleashed a laser to Alan Espinal who applied the tag and keep Inland Empire off the board.

But that would be short lived as Johan Macias tripled home two runs to put Inland Empire up 2-0.

Fresno got one run back in the top of the third on Yeiker Reyes’ solo homer that sailed well over the tall right field wall while staying just inside the foul pole.

Inland Empire put a runner on to start the fourth inning as Raudi Rodriguez singled into right field. A failed pickoff attempt ran up the first base line to put Rodriguez on third before Mitchell Daily lined a double down the right field line to reset the 66ers lead to two.

Luciano buckled down to evade any further damage getting a strikeout against Linares and drawing a flyout from Macias into the glove of Hopfe in left before getting Edwardo Espinal to groundout to Kelvin Hidalgo.

That would be it for Luciano who scattered seven baserunners over 4 innings of work while giving up three runs.

Vargas escaped his own jam in the top of the fifth, working around Blake Wright’s leadoff ground-rule double, to leave the scoreline 3-1 in favor of the 66ers.

Yeferson Vargas struck out three in five innings of work, only surrendering the homer to Reyes.

A leadoff single against reliever Everett Catlett started the bottom of the fifth for the 66ers and a second failed pickoff attempt put another runner in scoring position. After a walk, a wild pitch moved two runners into scoring position.

Catlett struck out the next two batters before Rodriguez singled up the middle to score both runners and push the Inland Empire lead to 5-1. Catlett prevented any further damage by striking out Linares, for his fourth K in two innings of work, to end the inning.

Inland Empire’s bullpen kept the Grizzlies quiet for the next two innings minus a Roynier Hernandez two-out single in the sixth.

The Grizzlies went in order in the seventh and eighth innings, but Tyler Hampu worked two scoreless innings of relief, drawing a double play to end the bottom of the 7^th inning and a clean 8^th.

Hernandez drew a walk in the 9^th, but Fresno could not push across a run in the inning to fall 5-1.

Blake Wright was 2-3 on the evening adding his second stolen base of the season.

Catlett and Hampu combined for 6 strikeouts in four innings of relief for the Grizzlies.

The series continues with the fourth of six games in San Bernardino Friday night at 6:35 pm with Jackson Cox taking the hill for the Fresno Grizzlies against the Inland Empire 66ers and Chris Clark.

The broadcasts for the entire series will solely be produced by the 66ers and can be accessed through MLB.TV or the MiLB streaming app.

The Grizzlies return home on Tuesday, April 15^th to begin a series with the Lake Elsinore Storm.

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The Fresno Grizzlies are a proud affiliate of the Colorado Rockies organization. During the 2024 season, the Grizzlies held several California League season records, including most attended game and highest overall attendance. The team plays at Chukchansi Park, a year-round venue that hosts numerous special events.