The Fresno Grizzlies (26-30) defeated the Tacoma Rainiers (31-23) 3-2 in walk-off fashion with two outs in the ninth on Saturday night at Chukchansi Park. It's the third walk-off victory for the Grizzlies this season to put them on a six-game win streak, their longest of the season. The longest
The Fresno Grizzlies (26-30) defeated the Tacoma Rainiers (31-23) 3-2 in walk-off fashion with two outs in the ninth on Saturday night at Chukchansi Park. It's the third walk-off victory for the Grizzlies this season to put them on a six-game win streak, their longest of the season. The longest Fresno win-streak in 2016 was five games twice.
For the second straight night both clubs participated in a pitcher's duel through the majority of the game until the sixth inning. The clubs had only five combined hits up until that point, while the night ended with 14 combined hits.
The Grizzlies took a 1-0 lead in the sixth on a RBI double by Derek Fisher (2-for-4). Tony Kemp scored after he walked, stole second, and advanced to third on an error. With the double, Fisher extended his current hit streak to nine games; his season-long is 17. He has hit safely in 31 of 35 games, batting .383 (57-for-149) in that span with 11 homers, 13 doubles and 32 RBI.
Tacoma evened the score 1-1 in the top half of the seventh on a RBI double from Tuffy Gosewisch (2-for-4). D.J. Peterson scored after walking to get on. It didn't take long for the Grizzlies to regain the lead when Fisher drove in Tyler White (single) in the bottom of the seventh with a RBI single to make the score 2-1.
The Rainiers tied the contest once again in the eighth, 2-2, on another RBI double. This time it was Zach Shank who scored Ryan Jackson who reached on an error.
Preston Tucker walked it off for the Grizzlies in the ninth when he scored Alejandro Garcia with a single to right. Garcia singled to get on, stole second, and advanced to third on Kemp's groundout before scoring to give Fresno the 3-2 win.
Grizzlies starter David Martinez had his third consecutive quality start, going 6.2 innings and allowing one run on four hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Through his last three starts he's gone 20 innings and allowed just three earned runs on 12 hits and seven walks with 15 punch-outs. It was Fresno's fifth quality start in six games.
Dayan Díaz (4-0) picked up the win for the Grizzlies in an inning and two thirds to end the game. Ryne Harper (2-1) suffered the loss for the Rainiers giving up the winning run in the ninth. Tacoma starter Cody Martin went 3.2 scoreless innings in his 2017 season debut and allowed one hit and a walk with three strikeouts.
Going 0-for-4 on the night, Juan Centeno's 21-game hit streak was snapped. It was the longest such streak of the season for the Grizzlies and in the Astros affiliation era. He was 11 games from the longest all-time Fresno hit streak in 2004 by Dave Doster.
Fresno looks to sweep Tacoma in the series finale of the four-game set on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. LHP Dillon Overton (1-0, 5.65) will be on the mound for the Rainiers, while Dean Deetz will make his Triple-A debut for the Grizzlies.
