Black Shines in Debut for Cats but Dodgers Rally for Win

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Sacramento River Cats held an advantage for nearly the entire game of the series opener with the Oklahoma City Dodgers, but late offense by Oklahoma City carried them to an extra-innings win with a 5-3 final in 10 innings.

Excitement was in the air for the Triple-A and River Cats (40-47) debut of the recently promoted Mason Black, who showed why he is ranked the No. 9 prospect in the San Francisco organization despite needing to dance around danger in the early goings of his outing. It began in the first as a single, hit batter, and walk loaded the bases with two outs, but Black fanned the final Dodgers’ (58-28) hitter of the inning.

Sacramento rewarded Black with a run in the home half of the frame, using a pair of back-to-back two-out knocks to score the game’s first run. Reaching first was Isan Diaz, singling into left center and scoring immediately on a double down the left field line from David Villar that hooked into the corner. For Villar, he has now scored or driven in at least one run in 17 of his 26 games played.

The focus returned to Black in the middle innings, who with another pair of punchouts to start the second had retired each of the previous three hitters via strikes. That span ended with a single and walk to put a pair on with two outs, but a flyout ended the damage for Black.

His best inning was the Dodger half of the third in which he retired the side in order, the only such inning for Black. In the fourth he was nearly able to match, stranding a two-out walk by Steven Duggar. Finally, his night ended after a quick fifth, again avoiding trouble from a two-out free pass by inducing an inning-ending groundout.

Taking over for Black in the sixth was Miguel Yajure, and he kept the momentum rolling with a shutdown inning while protecting the 1-0 lead. He was spotted an insurance run from the Sacramento offense when they came to the dish in the bottom of the frame, doing so again with another pair of two-out hits.

Starting the mini-rally was the reigning Pacific Coast League Player of the Week in Heliot Ramos, putting himself in scoring position after he singled into the right-center gap and stole second in the next at-bat. There to deliver in the clutch was Jakson Reetz, whose single landed in shallow center and led to a close play at the plate as Ramos attempted to score, just squeezing in ahead of the throw with a textbook slide to the back of the plate for the 2-0 cushion.

However, momentum started to shift in the seventh after Oklahoma City finally broke through onto the scoreboard. A leadoff walk was the primary culprit, as Duggar took advantage of another free pass and scored two batters later on a deep double into the left-center gap by Drew Avans which cut Sacramento’s lead in half, 2-1.

Following that run, Yajure bounced back into shape by once more sitting down the side in order during the eighth before handing the baton to Erik Miller in an attempt to close out the contest.

Miller, who had allowed just two earned runs (three total) since May 12, was unable to hold the lead despite earning a quick out. Once more it was Duggar involved as he drove a 3-1 pitch deep over the right field wall, tying the contest with one swing and forcing extra innings.

In the 10th was when momentum completely flipped, as a one-out walk issued by Chris Wright (1-1) had runners at the corners for a Devin Mann single, putting Oklahoma City ahead 3-2. After the bases loaded once more for the Dodgers, it was Duggar who struck again as he drove in two of the three with a ground-rule double that bounced over the wall in right center to give the Dodgers the support they needed.

No stranger to extra innings, boasting a 3-1 record entering tonight in such games, Sacramento put their own base runners at the edges with a leadoff single from Bryce Johnson while Armando Alvarez occupied second as the free runner. Alvarez was able to score on a sacrifice fly to right field from Tyler Fitzgerald, but that was all the River Cats could muster as Victor Gonzalez preserved the victory with two final groundouts.

That helped earn the win for Wander Suero (4-1), who tossed the ninth and dismissed any trouble from a two-out walk to Jack Larsen. Charged with the loss was Wright, his first of the season, while Miller was tabbed with his second blown save following the homer in the ninth. It spoiled what was a great debut by Black, who yielded just two hits but did walk four while fanning eight in 5.0 innings of work.

All five Sacramento knocks came from different bats, including 1-for-5 efforts by Johnson and Diaz, with the latter scoring once. Additionally, the trio of Villar, Ramos and Reetz were all 1-for-4, with Villar and Reetz driving in two of the three River Cats’ runs while Ramos tallied a run.

Sacramento will look to reverse its fortune in game two tomorrow, with the first pitch between these two teams scheduled for 6:37 p.m. from Sutter Health Park.