66ers Drop Another Tight Contest to Lancaster, No-Decision for Harvey

San Bernardino, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino fell to the Lancaster JetHawks 5-4 at the Hangar on Tuesday. It was the seventh consecutive time that the two clubs have played a game with the outcome decided by one run; the Sixers have won just one of those tight affairs.
Inland Empire (30-52, 4-9) started Angels' righty Matt Harvey in the game and the former National League All-Star was touched for a two-run homer to center by Sean Bouchard (11^th) in the first but then settled in. Assigned to the roster on a MLB Injury Rehab appearance (back), he had a four-pitch second inning and at one point retired five batters in a stretch of six pitches. Harvey did not figure in the decision as he gave up four hits in four frames with no walks and two Ks with an efficient 46 pitches (34 strikes). Inland Empire eventually tied the game scoring single runs in the second on Gleyvin Pineda's RBI single and in the fifth on Orlando Martinez' RBI single against Garrett Schilling (5-4). The righty was dominant for Lancaster (43-38, 9-4) however giving up only one earned run on six hits without a walk and striking out a career-high 11 batters. With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth Taylor Snyder singled to left center against IE righty Denny Brady (3-8) to drive in two runs while a third scored on a throwing error giving the JetHawks at 5-2 advantage. The Sixers got a run back in the seventh on Jordan Zimmerman's RBI single for a 5-3 deficit. Orlando Martinez tagged his second double and third hit of the night in the ninth against Tommy Doyle (SV, 14). Martinez eventually scored on an error by Lancaster SS Ryan Vilade that made the game 5-4 but Doyle struck out Alexis Olmeda to end the game. The teams combined to strike out 19 batters with just one walk.
The series concludes in Lancaster Tuesday at 6:35 pm. The contest can be heard live at 66ers.com.