Fresno snags series split with Sacramento

The Fresno Grizzlies (13-16) defeated the Sacramento River Cats (10-18) by a score of 5-1 Friday night at Chukchansi Park and snagged a series split in the finale of the four-game series. Derek Fisher and Juan Centeno extended their hit streaks to 10 games, the current club-high, joining Tyler White (10) and Preston Tucker (11) who lead that category.
Trent Thornton (1-0) pitched six solid innings in his second Triple-A start of the season for the Grizzlies. He did not allow a run on four hits and a walk with six strikeouts on 89 pitches. Fresno relievers combined to allow one run on three hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
The Grizzlies scored first to take a 2-0 lead in the second when White (3-for-4) knocked a RBI double to score Fisher (3-for-4) who singled. Fisher is 20-for-48 (.417) during his streak with three homers, six doubles and eight RBI without a walk in that span. A walk to Reid Brignac followed by a single from Centeno (2-for-3) brought up Andrew Aplin who drove in Brignac with a RBI single.
A.J. Reed (2-for-4) led off the fourth with a double and scored on a Centeno sacrifice fly to give the Grizzlies a 3-0 lead. Tucker blasted his fifth homer of the season to right in the fifth. The two-run bomb scored Jon Kemmer who walked, to make the score 5-0.
The River Cats got on the score sheet in the seventh with Fresno reliever Tyson Perez on the mound. Wynton Bernard hit a sacrifice fly that scored Austin Slater to make the score 5-1. The run would be the only one scored for Sacramento in the loss, as starter Dan Slania (0-4) allowed five runs on 10 hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
Fresno opens a four-game series with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. at Security Service Field as part of an eight-game road trip. Probable starters are RHP Mike Hauschild (0-0, 6.00) for the Grizzlies and RHP Paolo Espino (3-0, 3.03) for the Sky Sox.