Rascals Back On Track, Take Down Grizzles

Like a roller coaster ride, Monday night’s Frontier League game at had plenty of ups and downs.

In the end, the River City Rascals  wound up on top with an 8-6 victory against the Gateway Grizzlies in the rubber match of a three-game series.

“We had some big hits with two outs,” River City manager Steve Brook said. “We’ve got to be happy with this, five out of six at home. We’ve had a really good two weeks.”

The Rascals (25-11) remain atop the Frontier League’s West Division. The Grizzlies (15-21) snapped River City’s eight-game winning streak with a 4-1 victory on Sunday.

“Getting two-out hits and RBIs are the keys to getting a lot of wins and winning championships,” said Rascals first baseman Joash Brodin, who led the Rascals with three hits and three RBIs. “It was great to see that up and down the lineup.”

It was Gateway that got on the board first.

Following a leadoff bunt single from Gateway center fielder Brandt Barnes, a wild pitch and another bunt single—this time from T.S. Reed—the Grizzlies grabbed a 1-0 lead.

It didn’t take long for the Rascals to grab control.

Rascals leadoff hitter Chris McClendon walked and later scored on Brodin’s two-run double that also knocked in Chad Maddox.

Jareck West’s two-out moonshot off the bounce house beyond the left field wall gave the Rascals a 4-1 lead.

“He hit it pretty well,” Brook said of West’s blast. “I’m just glad they called it fair.”

Reed trimmed the lead with a one-out, bases-loaded RBI single in the second to bring in David Phillips. Jeremy Cresswell added another bunt single before Reed’s bouncer up the middle.

Logan Parker followed Reed’s single with a shot right field that scored Tyler Hell. A fielder’s choice grounder to third from Brandon Peters brought in Cresswell to tie the game at 4-4. It took a diving stop from McClendon at third to prevent the ball from heading into left field. His throw to second forced out Parker, whose hard slide prevented the throw to first and allowed the run to score.

After walking No. 9 hitter Landis Wilson and a single right back up the middle from Doug Sanders, Grizzlies manager Phil Warren pulled starter Jake Donze. Entering with one out in the second was rookie Ryan Juarez, a 22-year-old Norwalk, Calif., native making his professional debut.

Juarez was the first of four straight Grizzlies pitchers to make their pro debuts. The other three were Patrick Cabral, Pail Tremlin and Justin Shutt, who entered in the bottom of the seventh but left after only two batters with an arm injury.

The first batter Juarez faced was Stephen Holdren, who banged a shot to the left-center gap but the ball was tracked down by Barnes for the second out. Juarez then walked Maddox to load the bases for Brodin, who popped out to shallow left field.

The Grizzlies retook the lead on a Cresswell ground ball when Rascals shortstop Bobby Burk tried to look Landon Hernandez back to third. Hernandez went home but Burk still threw to first for the second out.

The Grizzlies added to their lead in the fourth when Peters’ double to the right-center wall scored Parker and chased Rascals starter Don Lisi.

“It was one of those nights where I thought (Lisi) had some pretty good stuff, but they found some holes on us,” Brook said. “When you’re a rookie, you’ve just got to shake it off and come back out there and expect to win the next time.”

The Rascals got a run back in the bottom of the fourth. A single from Wilson was followed by a Sanders double to give the Rascals runners at second and third with just one out. Holdren grounded out to second to bring in Wilson before Juarez got Maddox to ground out to end the inning.

The Rascals loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth and regained the lead on McClendon’s two-out, two-run double. Brodin’s solo homer in the bottom of the sixth made it an 8-6 Rascals lead.

“Anything I can do to help the team, I’m pumped about it,” said Brodin, who added that McClendon’s double “turned the game around.”

Derrick Miramontes entered in the seventh and baffled the Grizzlies batters with his unorthodox sidearm delivery. Miramontes allowed just one hit while striking out four over three innings to save the game for winning pitcher for Kirkland Rivers (3-0). Cabral (0-1) was the losing pitcher of record.

The Rascals are off Tuesday and travel to Washington, PA, for the first of three against the Wild Things. Gateway heads to Avon, Ohio to take on the Lake Erie Crushers.