66ers Explode Early and Late, Down Rawhide 8-1

Visalia, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino used an offensive outburst in the first and ninth to rub out the Visalia Rawhide 8-1 at Valley Strong Ballpark. The 66ers (14-16) banged out 11 hits on the night, seven for extra-bases to open the six-game set and send Visalia to their ninth consecutive loss.

The 66ers offense got rolling precisely at 6:03pm when Jeremy Arocho sizzled the opening pitch from Rawhide starter Austin Pope (0-4) down the right field line for a triple. D’Shawn Knowles then extended his hitting streak seven games with a RBI single to open the scoring. With one out Braxton Martinez blistered a liner out to left for a two-run shot, his sixth homer of the season and a 3-0 lead. Jose Bonilla then doubled and came home on Keinner Piña’s RBI ground out for a 4-0 lead. Jose Salvador (2-1) held the Rawhide (6-25) in check until the fifth when he walked Nyfey Castillo and then gave up a RBI double to Elian Miranda. That was the only run allowed by Salvador in his five innings as he surrendered just one hit, three walks and fanned seven. Emilker Guzman tossed three innings of one-hit work with no walks and two K’s out of the pen for IE. The 66ers threatened but failed pad their lead until the top of the ninth when Jose Reyes doubled to open the inning followed by walks to Elijah Greene and Jeremy Arocho to load the bags with one out. Jeremiah Jackson, already leading Low-A West in RBI, smoked an offering out to right-center for a grand slam, his sixth dinger of the season and an 8-1 advantage. Jackson now ranks third in all of MiLB with 33 runs driven in. Shane Kelso struck out three in the bottom of the ninth to put the game on ice; the righty has recorded seven outs since joining the club, all via the K. Martinez finished the game with a single, double, homer as well as a walk and his first stolen base of the year. Arocho had two hits and two walks for Inland Empire while Bonilla notched two hits. In addition to his grand slam, Jackson added a walk and stole his seventh base.

The series continues Wednesday at Visalia at 6:00pm. The contest can be heard live on 66ers.com.