Friday, July 13, 2012

Rookie has homer and two triples, but AirHogs cannot hold lead

FARGO, N.D. – The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks sent 11 men to the plate in an eight-run eighth inning, overshadowing a big night from Grand Prairie AirHogs rookie Kenny Held as the RedHawks increased their winning streak to 10 with a 12-7 victory at Newman Outdoor Field on Friday.

Held had three hits, including a home run and the first two triples of his career, driving in two and scoring three, but the RedHawks (31-21) came from behind three different times.

After a 1-2-3 first, the AirHogs (37-16) got on the board with a pair of longballs in the second, first by Greg Porter after an Andres Rodriguez leadoff double and then by Held with two outs, going the other way to right-center.

The RedHawks left three on in the first two innings before getting on the board in the third against rookie Will Irvin. Zach Penprase led off with a walk and Buddy Sosnoskie singled, before a double steal and a throwing error by Chris McMurray brought in a run. Nic Jackson hit a sacrifice fly to give Fargo-Moorhead another run.

A two-out single by Penprase set up the tying run an inning later, as he then stole second and scored on Sosnoskie’s single up the middle.

Grand Prairie re-took the lead on a Held triple and David Thomas sacrifice fly in the fifth, but a Jon Gaston solo homer chased Irvin in the bottom half and tied the game again.

Neither team scored in the sixth, but Held tripled in McMurray to knock out Fargo-Moorhead starter Jake Laber, and the AirHogs rookie scored on a wild pitch by Kevin Fuqua to put Grand Prairie up by two.

Ronnie Morales (3-2) struck out two batters in a perfect seventh, but the eighth proved to be much less kind. Ryan Delgado led off with a double down the leftfield line, before Marcos Rodriguez reached on a Greg Porter error at third. Todd Jennings then hit a grounder to the shortstop hole, and Yasutsugu Nishimoto’s throw pulled Bryan Frichter off the bag to allow everyone to reach safely and pull Fargo-Moorhead to within one…Only one of the six runs charged to Morales was earned.

Carlo Cota bunted the runners up, and the AirHogs walked Penprase intentionally, bringing up the lefty-hitting Sosnoskie against the lefty Morales. He hit a grounder to short that Nishimoto tried to hurry the double play throw and shoveled it away, allowing two runs to score and give the RedHawks the lead for the first time. Nick Jackson then blooped a single to left for another run, and Eric Campbell greeted Jakob Cunningham with another hit before the righty struck out Gaston for the second out. But Delgado capped the inning with his second hit of the frame, a long three-run homer to left to make it 12-6.

The AirHogs did get a run back in the ninth but it was much too little and much too late, insuring that they would not win their ninth straight series.

Notes: The AirHogs were 31-0 before Friday when leading after seven innings…The seventh was the only inning that the RedHawks went down in order…All nine Fargo-Moorhead hitters had at least one hit…This is the first time the AirHogs have lost two straight since June 2-3 in Wichita.

The 2011 American Association Champion Grand Prairie AirHogs continue their four-game series against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks on Saturday, July 14, at 6:00 p.m. The next home game at QuikTrip Park is on Friday, June 20, at 7:05 against the Kansas City T-Bones, with Coors Light Jerseys off our Backs Night, where all fans will have a chance to win the AirHogs’ specialty jerseys right off their backs. All games are aired live and for free on Ustream by clicking on the link on the AirHogs’ home page or visiting http://www.ustream.tv/channel/airhogs-baseball with selected contests aired on Time Warner Cable’s Texas Channel. For information on tickets, promotions, advertising, and other opportunities with the AirHogs, check out the Web site at www.airhogsbaseball.com, or call the QuikTrip Park office at (972) 504-9383.