Ogden Pounds Billings 11-4
OGDEN - Scott De Jong came within a home run of hitting for the cycle for the second time this season and Ogden (9-6, 28-25) won its sixth straight game and eighth of nine with an 11-4 victory over Billings (7-8, 24-28) on Saturday night.
"Winning is fun, losing is not," De Jong summarized. "We're getting good pitching, playing good D, and we're getting a lot of timely hitting." (see De Jong's full postgame interview above)
De Jong had a 17-game hitting streak earlier this season that earned him Minor League Baseball's Pioneer League Player of the Month honor for July, but had 16 strikeouts in the last seven games entering Saturday's ballgame.
"The last week since the All-Star break, I've really been struggling with my timing," De Jong said. Last night I felt really good for the first time in a while, but didn't have any hits to show for it. But today, I felt real good. Everything was there for me."
After walking in the second inning, De Jong doubled in the fourth, singled in the sixth, and tripled in the seventh, before one final at-bat to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning.
De Jong ripped a long foul ball down the left field line and just got under a full count pitch that he drove near the warning track in left-centerfield for a flyout - the only time he did not reach base.
"I went for it there," De Jong said. "I pulled the ball really far foul that I might have had a chance on and just got under a ball on a 3-2. But a 3-for-4 night and a W is not a bad night at all. I'll take it."
For the second night in a row, Billings got on the board first in the top of the third inning, this time without recording a single base hit. Jairo Pacheco walked three batters, threw two wild pitches, and saw four combined stolen bases from Mustangs baserunners leading to a single run. Pacheco exited the game after four innings, surrendering just one run and one hit.
Ogden took the lead in the fourth with De Jong's RBI double, Jordan Tarsovich's RBI single, and Gersel Pitre's RBI groundout all in succession giving the Raptors a 3-1 lead. Billings then tied the game in the fifth inning on a two-out, two-run double by Kevin Franklin.
In the bottom of the sixth, Ogden loaded the bases with no one out. De Jong singled, Tarsovich was hit by a pitch, and Pitre reached on a fielder's choice. Deion Ulmer then drew the bases loaded walk to retake the lead, 4-3. Gage Green followed with an RBI sacrifice fly to put the Raptors ahead 5-3.
The Mustangs got one back with an RBI groundout in the seventh, making it a one-run ballgame heading into the seventh inning stretch.
Then the floodgates opened.
Ogden sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six runs on six hits in the bottom of the seventh inning. De Jong drove in his second run with a triple followed by Tarsovich who hit his second RBI single. Kelvin Ramos and Jordan Paroubeck hit back-to-back two-out, two-run doubles to left field that put the game out of reach.
Making his Ogden Raptors debut, Jose Santos (1-0) picked up the win, giving up two runs in two innings of relief. Bernardo Reyes allowed one run before Casey Mulholland and Clint Freeman shutdown Billings in the eighth and ninth innings.
Ramos, De Jong, and Tarsovich led Ogden offensively with three hits and two RBI each. Matt Jones also recorded multiple hits and Paroubeck knocked in his first two runs in a Raptors uniform.
Ogden goes for the series sweep on Sunday afternoon at 4:00pm MT at Lindquist Field. Adam Bray (0-1, 3.86) faces Jose Lopez (1-2, 3.55) in the finale.