Quakes Hand Tower Buzzers Fifth Straight Loss in Series Opener
Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. — The Ontario Tower Buzzers just couldn’t find the big hit Tuesday night. They racked up seven hits but only scratched across a single run, dropping the series opener to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, 5-1. Cam Leiter took the mound for Ontario and looked sharp again. Returning
Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. — The Ontario Tower Buzzers just couldn’t find the big hit Tuesday night. They racked up seven hits but only scratched across a single run, dropping the series opener to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, 5-1.
Cam Leiter took the mound for Ontario and looked sharp again. Returning from injury, he threw three shutout innings, didn’t give up a single hit, walked one, and fanned five. Only ten batters came up against him and he made it look easy. Leiter’s ERA dipped to 3.10, and his swing-and-miss stuff was on full display.
But once Leiter left, the game tipped Rancho’s way.
Josehp Marte took over in the fourth but immediately ran into trouble. He gave up a two-run shot to Angel Arredondo, and just like that, the Quakes had all the momentum. In the fifth, Jeffery Heard launched a solo homer off Javier Bartolozzi.
Lucas Ramirez doubled home another run in the sixth, and the Quakes tacked on a fifth when John Wimmer singled in Jaxon Willits in the seventh.
Rancho only collected six hits all night, but they made them count. Four of their five runs came on extra-base hits. They finished 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Ontario, on the other hand, kept putting runners on base but just couldn’t deliver the clutch hit.
Joendry Vargas set the tone early with a two-out triple in the first, and Oswaldo Osorio walked to put runners on the corners. But Talon Haley escaped trouble with a big strikeout, snuffing out the threat.
Ontario wasted a few more rallies with double plays with Rancho turned three of them, one after Osorio started the fourth with a walk and another when Kellon Lindsey singled in the sixth.
Haley kept the Buzzers in check over six innings, scattering three hits, walking three, and striking out six. He picked up the win and moved to 2-3.
Ontario finally got on the board in the seventh. Caleb Johnson singled, and after a throwing error moved him up, Francisco Espinoza drove him in with an RBI single. Javier Herrera followed with another base hit, but that was as close as they’d come—no more runs, rally fizzled.
The Buzzers went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left seven men stranded.
Vargas, Lindsey, Osorio, Johnson, Brendan Tunink, Espinoza, and Herrera all notched hits. Vargas also stole his 23rd base of the year, and Osorio reached three times with a single and two walks.
Ontario’s bullpen let things slip after Leiter’s exit, giving up five runs across five innings. Marte took the loss, while Bartolozzi allowed three runs in 2.2 frames. Jholbran Herder finished with a quiet 1.1 scoreless.
With this loss, Ontario’s skid stretched to five games.
The Tower Buzzers will try to snap that streak and even the series Wednesday night when they face Rancho Cucamonga again.
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Media Contacts:
Adam Serrano
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Diamond Baseball Holdings
Jeff Woolson
Play-by-Play Broadcaster