Saturday, August 04, 2012

Pitchers come through with two hits but Grand Prairie loses third straight

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Grand Prairie AirHogs pitchers Reymond Cruz and Ronnie Morales each got hits on their first career plate appearances Saturday night, but each of them was touched up on the mound as the Laredo Lemurs took their second straight game from the hosts, beating the AirHogs 9-5 at QuikTrip Park.

Cruz (4-6) and Morales were forced into the lineup after injuries to Brian Myrow (leg injury running out a base hit in the first) and Andres Rodriguez (hit by a pitch in the left arm in the fourth) , depriving the AirHogs (41-32) of their three- and four-hole hitters.

The AirHogs were down 4-0 after five thanks to a costly two-run error in the first and a two-run home run by John Allen in the third off Cruz, who is now 0-3 with the AirHogs. But Keanon Simon tripled to left-center to start the bottom of the sixth off Osvaldo Rodriguez (2-4), and scored on Jonny Kaplan’s sacrifice fly to put the AirHogs on the board. With two outs, Cruz came up and lined a double to right-center on the first pitch he has seen as a professional, but he was held at third on Trent Lockwood’s subsequent single. Rodriguez then Jairo Perez to strike out on a curveball to end the inning and keep the Lemurs (34-38) up by three.

Grand Prairie got another sac fly – this time from Bryan Frichter – in the seventh to pull to within two, but three lefties got hits off the lefty Morales to help knock in four runs for the Lemurs in the top of the eighth.

After an error began the bottom of the frame, Kenny Held homered to left off Chaz Roe to make it 8-4, before Morales hit a dribbler up the third-base line for an infield hit. Lockwood struck out but Perez, McMurray and Nishimoto all singled to bring in another run – but Perez was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on Nishimoto’s hit.  Roe then struck out Bryan Frichter to end the threat, and after Laredo got an insurance run in the top of the ninth, Mike Benacka struck out the side in the bottom half to end the game.

Notes: The Lemurs have scored four runs in the eighth inning of both games of the series...Six of the last seven and eight of the last 11 AirHogs outs were via the strikeout…All nine Lemurs starters had at least one hit, led by Allen’s three…Nine different AirHogs had each of their nine base hits…Six of the nine hits allowed by Cruz were for extra bases…Justin Dowdy gave up a run for the first time in 10 innings, last allowing a run June 22 in New Jersey.

The 2011 American Association Champion Grand Prairie AirHogs continue their four-game series against the Laredo Lemurs at QuikTrip Park on Sunday, August 5, at 6:05 p.m. It is Family Sunday, with the opportunity to play catch on the field before the game, along with one-dollar hot dogs and soft drinks. Fans are also welcome to bring their dogs, as long as they are on leashes. 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.