Guerra Shines In 12-2 Matinee Win

Junior Guerra shut down the Dodgers and the Sky Sox offense scored in each of the first four innings to defeat Oklahoma City, 12-2, in front of 3,569 at Security Service Field Sunday afternoon.

Guerra (2-2, 2.45 ERA) earned his second win of the season and first win at home by keeping the Dodgers off the scoreboard over 5.2 innings, allowing a season-best two hits while striking out five batters. Tyler Webb, Andrew Barbosa and Wily Peralta held the OKC offense to two runs over the final 3.1 innings to drop the magic number to seven games and increase the division lead to nine games.
For the second straight game, Colorado Springs (74-51) used some first-inning scoring to jump out to a quick lead. Kyle Wren drew a leadoff walk from Oklahoma City RHP Wilmer Font, advanced to second on a balk and scored on a one-out double to left field off the bat of Ivan De Jesus.
The Sox added to their lead with three runs in the second inning. After Yadiel Rivera sent a one-out triple to left field, Junior Guerra helped his own cause by lining an opposite-field RBI single over the drawn-in infield to double the lead to 2-0. De Jesus added to his RBI total with a two-run single to left field, scoring Guerra and Wren. The three RBI in the first two innings gave the third baseman 60 RBI in 2017.
After making several plays in his first game in center field for the Sky Sox, Quintin Berry made his mark offensively in the fourth inning. Facing OKC reliever Colt Hynes, Berry tucked his first Colorado Springs home run inside the left field foul pole to extend the lead to 6-0. Four batters later, Garcia added a second run of the inning, lining a two-out double to score De Jesus for the catcher's second RBI of the day.
Rivera added a RBI of his own in the sixth inning to complete the eight unanswered runs to open the game. With two out, Rivera grounded an opposite-field single off RHP Walker Buehler to score Garcia and increase the lead to 8-0.
The Dodgers (66-61) scored a pair of runs in the seventh inning, but the hosts responded with a four-run eighth inning to extend the final margin of victory to 10 runs for the second straight game. Two batters into the frame, Garcia lined a double over the head of right fielder O'Koyea Dickson to score Orf for the second time. After a Josh Ravin wild pitch plated Garcia, Wren and Berry each lined RBI singles to left field, scoring Rivera and Wren, respectively.
The Sox look to clinch the four-game series Monday night at 6:40 p.m. MT. RHP Paolo Espino (4-1, 3.88 ERA) takes on RHP Brock Stewart (0-0, 2.03 ERA) in the penultimate meeting between the two PCL American Northern Division rivals in 2017. Monday night is another Community Ticket Night, presented by ARC Thrift Stores, when fans can get complimentary ticket vouchers from any ARC Thrift Store location in Colorado Springs.