San Bernardino, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino finished the California Leauge schedule's first half with a wild win that saw Sixers' CF Jo Adell have another big day at the plate and a position player, David MacKinnon earn a win on the mound in a 3-1 victory
San Bernardino, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino finished the California Leauge schedule's first half with a wild win that saw Sixers' CF Jo Adell have another big day at the plate and a position player, David MacKinnon earn a win on the mound in a 3-1 victory on Sunday over the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. The 66ers finished the half 33-37, two games behind the Quakes who were the South Division's first half champions.
Jo Adell, who was 4-for-5 on Saturday, opened the bottom of the first driving a solo homer to right against Quakes righty Tony Gonsolin. It was Adell's eighth homer in 25 games with the Sixers and his fifth in his last ten games; it was the start of another big day for the Angels top prospect. Gonsolin fowllowed by retiring the next 14 batters he faced consecutively en route to 7.0 IP, 4H, 1ER, 0BB and 9Ks but the Cal League All-Star did not figure in the decision. IE starter Erik Manoah Jr. tossed a perfect first but was struck in the head with a liner off the bat of Cristian Santana. The ball was played by the shortstop who retired Santana and Manoah stayed in the game for two more batters before exiting. Marc Brakeman gave the Sixers 3.1 scoreless innings of relief. The game was knotted up at 1-1 in the seventh when Jeren Kendall smacked a solo homer, his seventh to right field against IE reliever Eduardo Rivera. The righty tossed 2.2 innings but walked a batter with two down in the eighth and the Sixers turned to MacKinnon. The right-handed first baseman, who had two brief pitching appearances at the University of Hartford in 2014, gave up a single to Zach McKinstry but then got Nick Yarnall to pop out to keep it tied. In the home half of the eighth Rancho reliever Logan Salow gave up a one out bloop double to DJ Jenkins and then hit SS Michael Fuchs (in his professional debut). Adell, who had collected a second hit in the sixth, then drilled a single to left scoring Jenkins easily and giving IE a 2-1 advantage. Roberto Baldoquin then followed with a sac fly for a 3-1 advantage. In the top of the ninth, MacKinnon (1-0) got two quick out and then froze Kendall with a called third strike to end the game. Adell finished 3-for-4 with the homer and two RBI for the 66ers.
The 66ers will be back in action following the All-Star break when they visit Lancaster Thursday at 6:35 pm. The contest can be heard live at 66ers.com.
