Quakes Even Series with 4-2 Win

Rancho Cucamonga, CA- The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes received a strong start from Cuban righty Yaisel Sierra and evened a four-game series at 1-1 with a 4-2 victory at LoanMart Field over Inland Empire on Sunday. Devan Ahart was 2-for-2 for the Dodger-affiliated Quakes and was on base four times to pace the offense as Rancho Cucamonga improved to 10-2 against the Sixers this year.

Sierra (3-3) tossed six shutout innings and allowed just one hit and two walks with six strikeouts. Inland Empire (19-38) RF Michael Strentz singled to open the second inning and that was followed by C Wade Wass' walk to put runners at first and second with no outs but Sierra got a weak ground out, an infield pop-up and a strikeout to quell the only serious threat against him all day. Quakes' 2B Erick Mejia had an RBI single in the bottom of the inning that scored Ahart and gave the Quakes a 1-0 lead. That run was the only allowed by Inland Empire starter Garrett Nuss (0-1) who was making his 2016 debut after starting the season on the disabled list. Nuss gave up just the one run on four hits with three walks and five Ks in four innings.

Rancho Cucamonga (34-23) added a run in the fifth on a double by Yusniel Diaz that was lost in the sun in right by Strentz. The Quakes added two more in the sixth to push the lead to 4-0. Inland Empire did get to on the board in the seventh when Ayendy Perez bounced an infield single with the bases loaded and Tim Arakawa took a RBI walk against southpaw reliever Phillip Pfeifer to cut the lead in half to 4-2. That is all Inland Empire would get as Pfeifer tallied a strikeout to leave the bases loaded. Chris Anderson tossed a perfect eighth for the Quakes while Karch Kowalczyk earned his sixth save with a scoreless ninth. Josh Roenicke kept the Sixers in the game with two shutout innings out of the pen allowing a hit and a walk with three Ks.

The series continues on Monday at 7:05 pm. The contest can be heard live at 66ers.com and 1570 AM KPRO.

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