San Bernardino, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino got a stellar effort from its bullpen in the club's 5-4 win over Lake Elsinore in the regular season home finale for the Sixers. Kida De La Cruz, Isaac Mattson (W, 2-1) and Dayan Díaz (SV, 1) combined to allow
San Bernardino, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino got a stellar effort from its bullpen in the club's 5-4 win over Lake Elsinore in the regular season home finale for the Sixers. Kida De La Cruz, Isaac Mattson (W, 2-1) and Dayan Díaz (SV, 1) combined to allow just three hits and no walks with 11 Ks in 7.1 scoreless innings out of the pen as Inland Empire finished the regular season 37-33 at San Manuel Stadium and 14-15 versus the Storm in 2018.
The 66ers (67-69, 34-32) opened the scoring in the fourth when Julian Leon drilled a homer against Storm starter Aaron Leasher (1-2). It was Leon's tenth dinger of the year and his first swing since August 11th when he left a game after suffering a concussion. Zane Gurwitz added a RBI double and another run came home on an error. The Storm (64-72, 30-36) took a lead in the top of the second however and chased Sixers' starter Adrian De Horta with two outs in the frame as the Storm got an RBI single for AJ Kennedy, RBI single from Chris Baker and a two-run single from Edward Olivares. The Sixers took the lead back in the fifth when Richie Fecteau doubled to open the inning and DJ Jenkins walked. With one out Torii Hunter Jr. Jr. singled to load the bags. David MacKinnon then knocked home the tying run on a sac fly. Leon walked to load the bags and Jordan Zimmerman took a walk to bring home Jenkins for a 5-4 lead. The bullpens of both combined for 11.2 IP of scoreless work as the 5-4 lead held up. Hunter, Jenkins and Bernabe Camargo had multi-hit games for the Sixers as Hunter has now hit safely in ten consecutive games.
The Sixers open their final series of the season Friday at Rancho Cucamonga at 7:05 pm. The contest can be heard live on 66ers.com.
