Padres Roar Back For Third Straight Night

TUCSON- For the second straight night, the Fresno Grizzlies blew a lead of at least five runs as the Tucson Padres erased a 5-0 deficit to win 11-9 on Tuesday night at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium. In doing so, the Grizzlies, who had 18 hits (and 57 in the series) were swept for the second time this year, and now have dropped six straight games, matching their longest losing streak this season.

Things started out well for Fresno (33-47) with two first-inning runs. Newcomer and right fielder Justin Christian singled to right field to open the game. Then center fielder Tyler Graham followed with an infield single to first and Christian hustled all the way third when Tucson left-handed starting pitcher Pedro Hernandez (2-0) bobbled the ball off a feed from first baseman Kyle Blanks. Christian scored when third baseman Conor Gillaspie grounded into a double play. The other first inning run came courtesy of an RBI double to center field by left fielder Thomas Neal.

Fresno added three more runs in the second inning. One run scored on a fielding error by Tucson second baseman Jarrett Hoffpauir, and the others on RBI singles by Gillaspie and second baseman Brett Pill.

But Tucson (38-42) would start to chip away against Fresno right-handed starter Andrew Kown (8-7). The Padres scored a run in second inning on a double by catcher Guillermo Quiroz and two more in the third on a sacrifice fly by Hoffpauir and an RBI-single by shortstop Andy Parrino. It was Parrino who gave the Padres the lead for good, as he socked a two-run homer to right-center, part of a four-run fifth inning. The homer, off Fresno right-handed reliever Felix Romero, gave Tucson its first lead at 7-6.

The Padres took an 11-7 lead into the ninth inning, but the Grizzlies fought back with three straight singles off the bats of Pill, shortstop Edgar Gonzalez and Neal against Tucson right-hander Evan Scribner. The hit by Neal scored Pill which made it 11-8. The final run-scoring hit for Fresno came two batters after Neal, when catcher Hector Sanchez singled to center to make 11-9. The Grizzlies twice had the go-ahead run at the plate in the ninth down by two but couldn't add to their rally.

Kown has lost his last two starts. He went four innings (plus), giving up six hits and five runs (four earned). The righty walked four and struck out three. In just his second Triple-A start, Hernandez surrendered 10 hits in five innings and allowed five runs (four earned) with three strikeouts and no walks. However, he was the pitcher of record during Tucson's fifth inning rally.

Wednesday is an off-day for Fresno as it will next take the field Thursday night for its first visit this year to Tacoma. Fresno left-hander Dan Runzler (0-1) will oppose Tacoma lefty Nate Robertson (2-2) at Cheney Stadium with the first pitch at 7:05pm.

GRIZZLIES PAWS:
Pill had three more hits on Tuesday. He finished the series with 10 hits and five RBI. He has three straight three-hit games.

Shortstop Edgar Gonzalez reached base safely three times on Tuesday, thus extending his streak of reaching base safely to 34 games which is the longest in the Pacific Coast League this season. He walked in the first inning and later had two singles and a run scored.

The other time Fresno was swept this year was May 27-30 at Colorado Springs.

Tucson leads the season-series over Fresno 7-5. The teams will meet for four games right before the All-Star Break in Fresno, July 7-10.

In the four-game set, the Grizzlies bullpen allowed 19 runs (all earned) in 15 1/3 innings for an ERA of 11.15.