River Cats Draw Level Late, But Dodgers Squeeze Out Victory

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Sacramento River Cats leveled their Friday night contest against the Oklahoma City Dodgers during the seventh inning, but a sacrifice fly in the ninth gave Oklahoma City just enough to steal game four of the six-game series by a 5-4 final.

Two-out magic was the key for the Dodgers (36-13) in the early going against River Cats (22-27) starter Sean Hjelle, reaching the scoreboard with two outs in the top of the first thanks to a solo shot from Jonny DeLuca. Oklahoma City kept it rolling during their swings in the second, as back-to-back doubles from Devin Mann and Justin Yurchak (RBI) doubled the lead.

Another two-out double saw the Dodgers again put a runner in scoring position during the third, and while Hjelle was able leave the runner stranded, Oklahoma City loaded the bases with no outs during the fourth. For the third time Hjelle limited the damage to just a single run, a sacrifice fly from Yurchak, and then punched out his final two hitters of the night.

Hitless through the first three frames, the first knock of the night for the River Cats could not have come at a better time. Stealing the Oklahoma City recipe was Jacob Nottingham, delivering a two-out double down the left field line that scored Ford Proctor all the way from first after he just beat the tag in a play at the plate.

Taking over for Hjelle to start the fifth was Nick Avila, who was also bitten by the long ball when DeLuca hooked one down the left field line for his second homer of the evening.

Sacramento stole that run back plus another in the home half of the fifth, beginning the frame on a hard-hit double that slammed off the wall by Will Wilson. Still at second after a pair of outs, delivering consecutive two-out knocks was the duo of Tyler Fitzgerald and Matt Beaty. First was Fitzgerald as his looping single to shallow left field scored Wilson, and then Fitzgerald scored easily on a double over the head of DeLuca in right field to bring the score to 4-3.

Two innings later the River Cats were able to equalize, with Shane Matheny scoring the tying run on a wild pitch after reaching third thanks to a triple to center. At the same time the Sacramento bats were getting hot, the pitching staff was doing its job as they retired 11 straight Dodgers hitters from the end of the fifth through the eighth.

Snapping that stretch with a leadoff double in the ninth was Jahmai Jones, who after moving to third on a single from Drew Avans, scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly from Michael Busch. The Dodgers then turned to their closer Nick Robertson for the bottom of the frame, who struck out the side in order to preserve the 5-4 victory.

With Robertson getting the save, picking up the win was Tayler Scott (2-0) to keep his record unblemished, while Danilel Tillo (1-5) was charged with his second loss of the series.

Tallying his first multi-hit contest in his debut game with Sacramento was Nottingham, ending 2-for-4 with his RBI double. Five other River Cats collected hits on the night including Wilson, who was 1-for-4 with his own run-scoring double, while Matheny was 1-for-4 and scored a run after his triple.

These two teams will meet again on Salute to Armed Forces Night tomorrow at 6:37 p.m. from Sutter Health Park.