Crawford Rolls in Win Over 66ers

Rancho Cucamonga, CA - The long ball and stellar starting pitching thrusted the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes to a 7-2 victory over the Inland Empire 66ers in game three of the four-game set.
Entering play on Saturday night, Rancho held a four-game lead over both the Lancaster JetHawks and the Lake Elsinore Storm with 15 games left in the first half. Following the convincing win for the Quakes (32-22) over Inland Empire (22-32), coupled with a JetHawk loss to Stockton and a Storm loss to San Jose, Rancho now holds a five-game lead in the South Division with 14 games to go.
Devin Mann, Jeter Downs and Connor Wong all left the yard to continue the Quakes' power-hitting campaign in 2019. Mann and Downs blasted a pair of two-run home runs in the bottom of the first and the third, respectively, both marking their eighth home run of the year. Wong went back-to-back with Downs, sending his team-leading 10th homer over the left field wall.
Rancho took advantage of a couple of Inland Empire defensive mishaps in the bottom of the sixth, tacking on two more runs to take a 7-0 lead.
Although the 66ers would break up the shutout with two runs of their own in the top-of-the-eighth inning, it was not off the Quakes' starting pitcher. Leo Crawford (1-0) grabbed his first win of 2019, hurling 6.2 innings of shutout ball on just four hits, with eight strikeouts and not a single free-pass.
Inland Empire starter, Nate Bertness (2-2), took the loss, giving up five earned on the aforementioned three home runs.
Rancho looks for the second consecutive win in the month of June as they will send RHP Michael Grove (0-2) to the mound on Sunday. As for Inland Empire, RHP Oliver Ortega (2-2) will toe the rubber in what will be his ninth start of the season. Furthermore, on Sunday, June 2nd, U.S. Bank presents another U.S. Bank Youth Clinic at LoanMart prior to the series finale. Purchase tickets online at rcquakes.com or by calling (909) 481-5000. Go Quakes!