Bears drop 8th straight; Gold Sox blow big lead in 9th
Kaelen Crisosto connected for two home runs but it wasn’t enough for the Yuba City Bears, who saw their losing streak extended to eight games with a 4-3 loss to the Portland Pickles on Saturday night at Colusa Casino Stadium in Marysville. The Pickles jumped ahead 2-0 by scoring twice in the first inning before Crisosto cut the lead in half by launching his first solo home run of the night in the bottom of the second.
The Bears tied the game in the third when Creed Smith lined a leadoff triple and scored on an RBI single by Josh Winkler.
Portland reclaimed the lead by scoring twice in the sixth, but Crisosto cut the lead in half once again by hitting his second homer in the seventh to make the score 4-3.
That would be all the scoring Yuba City would muster, and though the Bears out-hit the Pickles 10-7 in the game, they ended up leaving 11 runners stranded on base.
Crisosto also hit a double while finishing 3 for 5, Smith and Winkler added two hits each, and Logan Wurm doubled to lead the way offensively.
Danny Chavez allowed six hits and four earned runs over 5 ⁄ innings to take the loss. He struck out three and walked four. Willie Bennett and Cam Greenough combined to allow only one hit over the final 3 ⁄ innings to keep Yuba City within striking distance.
The Bears (10-31) and Pickles (19-22) conclude their three-game series today at 6:05 p.m. in Marysville.
SAN DIEGO – Backup catcher Hector Sanchez of the San Diego Padres found out during batting practice Saturday that he would start in place of Austin Hedges, who took a foul ball off his mask the night before.
Several hours later, after going 0 for 3 against former teammate Madison Bumgarner, Sanchez hit a no-doubt, two-run homer off Steven Okert with one out in the ninth inning to lift the Padres to a 5-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
Four of the switch-hitting Sanchez’s seven hits this year are homers – three as a pinch-hitter and then Saturday night’s walk-off.
Sanchez came in hitting .154 in 39 at-bats in just 29 games.
“It’s not an easy job, but I know my job. I have to be ready every single day,” Sanchez said. “If something happens, I have to be ready.”
Gold Sox 12, Potters 12 In Lincoln – With 19 games remaining on their schedule, the Gold Sox took the field at McBean Stadium looking to gain ground in the race for the final playoff spot in the Great West League.
In a game that didn’t finish before the AppealDemocrat’s press deadline, Marysville was tied 12-12 against the second-place Lincoln Potters after blow- ing a four-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The Gold Sox entered the night 3 ⁄ games behind Portland in the battle for the fourth-and-final playoff spot, and would stay that way even with a win following the Pickles’ victory over Yuba City.
Lincoln scored once in the first and three times in the second to take a 4-0 lead before Marysville got on the board on an RBI double by Sam Leach in the third.
After starting the game a little slow, Marysville scored two runs in the fifth and sixth innings, three runs in the seventh, one run in the eighth and three more in the ninth to take a 12-8 lead.
It wasn’t enough, however, as Lincoln recorded five hits and took advantage of a Gold Sox error to score four times in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings.
Leach and Dalton Maxwell both drove in three runs, Quinn Ayers finished with two RBI, and Darrel Doll and JC Santini smacked two hits each for Marysville.
The Gold Sox (16-26) and Potters (27-14) will finish their three-game series today in Lincoln at 6:05 p.m.