San Bernardino, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino got a scoreless first Angels' righty Keynan Middleton on an injury rehab assignment but eventually dropped an 11-inning affair to the Lancaster JetHawks 4-2. The loss was the 66ers' fifth straight defeat, the first five game of a six-game homestand.Middleton,
San Bernardino, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino got a scoreless first Angels' righty Keynan Middleton on an injury rehab assignment but eventually dropped an 11-inning affair to the Lancaster JetHawks 4-2. The loss was the 66ers' fifth straight defeat, the first five game of a six-game homestand.
Middleton, who is returning from Tommy John surgery, worked around a one-out walk from the Sixers' defense in his scoreless first frame. The Milwaukie, OR native, who played for the Sixers in 2016, struck out two in a no-hit, no-walk inning that saw him toss 16 pitches, 11 strikes. The JetHawks (46-41, 12-7) got on the board in the fourth after Austin Bernard tripled and then came home on Matt Hearn's RBI single against IE righty Cooper Criswell (5.0 IP, 4H, 1ER, 1BB, 2K). The Sixers tied the game in the third when Franklin Torres walked and moved to third on Gareth Morgan's single to right. Torres scored on Jordan Zimmerman's RBI fielder's choice. The game remained tied until the tenth when Sean Bouchard delivered a RBI single with two outs and a 2-1 lead. Inland Empire (31-57, 5-14) was down to its final strike in the tenth when Pineda lined a game-tying single to center. The JetHawks answered in the 11th when Todd Czinege delivered an RBI single to center against IE righty Denny Brady (3-9) followed by a RBI double from Taylor Snyder giving the JetHawks a 4-2 lead. Inland Empire went down in order in the 11th stranding the automatic runner at second as the Sixers went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Austin Moore (6-0) earned the win for Lancaster.
The series concludes Tuesday at 7:05 pm. The contest can be seen and heard live at 66ers.com.
