Fresno Downs Portland 5-0 In Series Opener

FRESNO, CA - Fresno (26-22) first baseman Jesus Guzman's return to the lineup helped re-energize the offense and lead the Grizzlies to a 5-0 win against the visiting Portland Beavers (24-25) on Friday night at Chukchansi Park. Fresno earned the win while wearing special red-and-blue theme jerseys in honor of Fresno State Night. The jerseys were auctioned off following the game and raised $10,600 for the Kremen School of Education.

The Grizzlies struck first in the second inning. In his first plate appearance with the Grizzlies since being optioned back down to Triple-A from San Francisco, Guzman belted a solo homer over the center field fence, giving Fresno an early 1-0 lead. Guzman ended the night going 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, three runs scored, and two RBI.

Fresno tacked on another run in the sixth thanks to a bases loaded sacrifice fly by catcher Steve Holm. The surging offense wasn't done though, as they rallied for three more runs in seventh inning on an RBI single from Guzman and a two-run home run from third baseman Ryan Rohlinger.

Southpaw Patrick Misch made his first start of the season for Fresno, and a strong performance it was. Misch was a spot starter while getting the Grizzlies normal, five-man rotation back on normal rest after Wednesday's doubleheader. Misch threw 5.0 shutout innings and allowed just two baserunners. Misch earned the win to improve his record to 3-0 on the season and dropping his ERA to 2.00. Fresno's bullpen combined for 4.0 scoreless innings of relief of their own with four strikeouts.

The Grizzlies are now a season-best four games over .500 at 26-22 and have the best record in the Pacific Coast League in the month of May (19-8).

The series continues Saturday night at Chukchansi Park with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05pm PDT. Portland will send righty Matt Buschmann (2-4) to the mound to face off against Fresno starter Ryan Sadowski.