Late Rally Pushes Rawhide Past Tower Buzzers in Series Opener
VISALIA, Calif. — The Ontario Tower Buzzers had this game in hand heading into the late innings Tuesday, but Visalia flipped the script in a hurry. Three runs in the bottom of the eighth sent the Rawhide out front for good, and Ontario fell 5-3 in the opening matchup of
VISALIA, Calif. — The Ontario Tower Buzzers had this game in hand heading into the late innings Tuesday, but Visalia flipped the script in a hurry. Three runs in the bottom of the eighth sent the Rawhide out front for good, and Ontario fell 5-3 in the opening matchup of their six-game set at Valley Strong Ballpark.
Ontario (35-35) heads back to .500 after holding a lead most of the night and limiting Visalia to only five hits, but the problem was the free passes. The Rawhide hitters drew nine free passes and pounced in the eighth, erasing a 3-2 deficit.
That loss spoiled a great outing from right-hander Mason Estrada. He looked sharp, giving up just one run on three hits over five innings. He struck out four and handed out just two walks. Visalia got to him only once, a solo shot by Ivan Luciano in the fifth.
The Buzzers started hot against Visalia’s Simon Gregersen. In the second, Joendry Vargas roped a triple to left-center, then brought home on a wild pitch to open the scoring. The next inning, Kellon Lindsey got plunked, reached third thanks to a bad throw and a balk, and scored on Easton Shelton’s blast to right-center, his 22nd homerun this season. That pushed Ontario up 3-0.
But once Gregersen left, Ontario’s offense cooled off. The Rawhide bullpen, especially Ricardo Yan, shut things down. Yan tossed 3.2 scoreless frames, fanned five, and gave up just two hits.
The Buzzers ended with six hits, but the swings weren’t connecting late. They fanned 15 times and couldn’t cash in any of their five chances with runners in scoring position.
Jaron Elkins did his best, going 2-for-3, doubling, walking, and swiping three bags. Brendan Tunink chipped in with a couple hits, including his 11th double, and Vargas got that early triple and run.
Visalia kept clawing back. A solo homer from Luciano in the fifth and Enyervert Perez in the sixth trimmed Ontario’s edge to 3-2.
Everything changed in the eighth. Jhonny Jimenez came out of the pen, got the first out, but lost the zone after that. Back-to-back walks, then after a strikeout, looked like Ontario might get out of it, but after Angel Cruz came in for Jimenez, Bo Walker singled to tie it. Three walks later, the Rawhide led 5-3.
Angel Cruz was tagged with a blown save after coming in and letting both inherited runners score.
In the ninth, Visalia lefty Rocco Reid took over, punching out all three Ontario hitters to lock down his first save of the year.
Now the Buzzers have to shake this off fast; they’ll try to even the series on Wednesday as their road trip through Visalia rolls on.
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