Rose, Hart blasts top Sox in 16 innings

Mike Rose and Bo Hart cranked back-to-back home runs in the 16th inning to lift Memphis past visiting Colorado Springs, 9-8, on Sunday.

After Jeff Salazar slugged a solo blast in the top half to give the Sky Sox (46-63) an 8-7 edge, Rose drilled his 10th homer to knot the score with two outs. A former Sky Sox player, Hart followed with a roundtripper off reliever Miguel Asencio (7-7) over the left-field wall to give the Redbirds (44-64) their fourth straight win.

Alan Benes (4-3), the sixth reliever for Memphis, earned the win after yielding two runs on six hits with two strikeouts and a pair of walks over five innings.

Derek Wathan went 3-for-5 with three runs scored for Memphis. The 29-year-old second baseman drilled solo homers from both sides of the plate, including a two-out shot that forged a 6-6 tie in the eighth.

Josh Wilson's leadoff blast in the 13th gave the Sky Sox a 7-6 advantage, but Junior Spivey's sacrifice fly in the bottom half plated the tying run. The homer was Wilson's second in as many days and fourth in five games.

Timo Perez, Shawn Garrett, Skip Schumaker and Brian Esposito also drove in a run each for the Redbirds.

Jeff Baker had two RBIs and Chris Ianetta, Jayson Nix and Matt Miller each plated one for Colorado Springs. Carlos Rivera went 5-for-7 to lead the 19-hit attack, the highest total this season for the Sky Sox.