Schmitt’s Homer Enough for Sacramento on Tuesday

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Casey Schmitt provided all the offense needed for the Sacramento River Cats to win their sixth consecutive game, launching a three-run homer that resulted in a 3-2 decision over the Oklahoma City Baseball Club on Tuesday.

The River Cats (11-5) wasted no time in taking the early lead, kicking off a rally in the first with a leadoff single from Luis Matos before a one-out walk to Marco Luciano. Two batters later, Schmitt smacked his third homer in his past five at-bats and the fourth homer in his past 14, giving Sacramento the lead for good. The ball got out in a hurry, leaving the bat at 102.0 mph while traveling 438 feet to straightaway center field.

That was all the run support needed for River Cats starter Carson Seymour (1-0), who was in a groove early by retiring each of the first seven batters for Oklahoma City (10-6) that he faced. Though the streak was broken with a single in the third, Seymour went a full 5.0 innings and yielded one run on four hits, punching out a season-high seven batters in the process to earn the Triple-A victory of his career.

That run came with two outs in the fourth, as Kevin Padlo tallied a single before being driven in from first by Ryan Ward, who lined a double to left field.

Oklahoma City made it just a one-run game in the eighth, stringing together a two-out rally thanks to a single and pair of walks, the latter of which forced in a run. Juan Sanchez (1) returned for the ninth and had to battle to preserve the win, as he eliminated a one-out walk thanks to a 6-3 double play on a ball up the middle fielded by Luciano.

In all, Sanchez lasted the final 1.2 innings for the save, his first as a River Cat and first since his final appearance as a Richmond Flying Squirrel (AA) prior to his promotion to Sacramento on July 30, 2023.

Charged with the loss was Hyun-il Choi (0-1), who was making his Triple-A debut after being promoted earlier in the day, allowing three runs on five hits in 4.2 innings.

The quartet of Luciano, Schmitt, Heliot Ramos and Blake Sabol each provided a pair of hits, with one of Luciano’s going for two bases. Also recording a double was Ismael Munguia, who was 1-for-3 and also had a walk.

Tonight’s win marked the sixth straight for Sacramento, doing so for the first time since they also won six consecutive from July 31 through Aug. 5, 2016 when they won three against the Salt Lake Bees before taking three from Albuquerque.

Sacramento will put its six-game winning streak on the line tomorrow with an early start for the west coast as first pitch is tossed at 9:05 a.m. PT.