Jason Berken Continues to Shine for Fresno Grizzlies
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno Grizzlies (8-16) put three runs across in the first and added two more in the fourth to beat the Albuquerque Isotopes (13-10) 5-1 Sunday afternoon in front of 7,355 fans at Chukchansi Park. The win gives the Grizzlies a series split and a 3-5 record on their completed homestand.
Starter Jason Berken (W; 3-1) turned in his fourth straight quality start and longest outing of the season by throwing 7.0 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out a season-high eight batters. The eight strikeouts were his most in a professional game since June 18, 2009 vs. New York-NL (also 8) with the Baltimore Orioles and the most in a minor league game since striking out eight on August 22, 2008 as a member of Double-A Bowie.
The right-hander retired 15 of the first 16 batters he faced today, including the first nine to begin the game. A leadoff double by Chone Figgins (1-4) in the fourth accounted for the Isotopes first hit, but Berken responded by retiring six straight from the fourth-fifth until Miguel Rojas (2-4) hit a leadoff double (6) in the sixth. Rojas advanced to third on pinch-hitter Walter Ibarra's groundout to second, but was left stranded when Berken struck out Joc Pederson and Clint Robinson lined out to left.
The Grizzlies batted around in a three-run first inning, breaking a 16 inning scoreless streak that dated back to the first game of the series. Gary Brown (3-5) led off the first with a double and was followed by a Joe Panik single and a Tony Abreu hit-by-pitch. Tyler Colvin, who went 10-23 on the eight-game homestand, ripped a two-run double left to put the club up 2-0 and Chris Dominguez added a RBI groundout to push the lead to three.
A two-run Fresno fourth was sparked by Brown's leadoff triple (3) to right-center. Despite the next to batters recording outs, the Grizzlies strung together three-straight two-out hits to plate two more runs and give them a 5-0 advantage.
Berken completed his scoreless outing by working around a leadoff double in the seventh and retiring the next three batters in order, including his eighth and final strikeout.
Heath Hembree recorded his third-straight four-out save (4) and extended his scoreless outing streak to eight games (8.1 IP).
Gary Brown fell a homer short of the cycle, while Joe Panik and Guillermo Quiroz each recorded three hits.
Albuquerque starter Zach Lee suffered his second loss of the season. He allowed five runs on 10 hits over 3.2 innings.
The Grizzlies travel to El Paso to open up a four-game series with the Chihuahuas (9-14). Tomorrow night's game will mark the first in Southwest University Park history. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. PST. Right-hander Chris Heston (1-2, 3.97) will take the ball for Fresno and face lefty Jason Lane (2-2, 2.52). Listen to the radio call on 1430 AM KYNO, or stream the feed at kynofresno.com.