Colorado Springs, L 9-10 in 11 innings: The Sky Sox rallied for five runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game at nine, only to ultimately lose. Joe Koshansky hit his 20th home run to lead off the inning; Kenny Perez had an RBI double; Chris Frey drove in a run on a single; Mike McCoy had an RBI triple (and a two-run homer earlier in the game); and Doug Bernier reached first base on a throwing error and saw McCoy score.
Steven Register pitched the last two innings and allowed a Chris Shelton RBI double to become the winning run. Sean Smith started the game and did all right over six innings: 3 R/1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. The troubles came with Juan Morillo, who recorded no outs in the seventh inning. He faced five batters, allowed four of them to get a hit, and walked the other. Four of them scored while Morillo was on the mound while the other scored when Cedrick Bowers came in to relieve. Bowers himself walked four and one run scored that way. Josh Towers, oddly enough, didn't allow a run in his two innings of work.
Tulsa, L 6-9: It was a good night to hit home runs . . . if you were on NW Arkansas. Alan Johnson surrendered three homers, all multi-run homers. Johnson left after five innings and eight runs. Tomas Santiago struck out five over the next three innings.
Jeff Kindel hit a two-run homer, his 10th, in the seventh to bring the game to 6-9. Daniel Carte had two hits and two runs, and Corey Wimberly stole three bases to have 52 on the season.
Modesto, L 6-11: Simon Ferrer allowed five runs on nine hits over 4 1/3 innings, and Chris Malone saw four runs score in 1 2/3 innings. Mike McKenry hit his 12th home, a solo shot in the sixth. Anthony Jackson went 3-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI, and two runs scored. Chris Nelson went 0-for-5 and is hitting .192 after seven games.
Kane Simmons and Radames Nazario received promotions from Tri-City to Modesto yesterday. Esmil Rogers and Keith Weiser will be temporarily on the inactive list.
Asheville, L 2-4: The Tourists ran into some tough pitchers, namely Carl Pavano and Phil Hughes. Pavano allowed only a hit in two innings and struck out four. Phil Hughes held the Tourists to two hits over three innings. A wild pitch and a Bo Bowman single scored the two runs in the seventh inning. Bruce Billings allowed three runs on six hits in seven innings and struck out six in his start after throwing a no-hitter.
Tri-City, W 4-2: In the bottom of the first, Thomas Field started with a called strike out, but the next three Dust Devils walked. Patrick Rose reached base on an error, which scored two runs. In the sixth inning, two runs scored on two wild pitches. The Dust Devils only had three hits.
Kenny Durst started and allowed no runs on three hits in four innings. He struck out six. Austin Chambliss picked up his 10th save.
James Sims and Andy Goff have taken the places of Simmons and Nazario.
Casper, W 5-0: Ethan Hollingsworth allowed no runs in five innings and struck out eight, his best start of the season. Isaiah Froneberger struck out three in two innings, and Kurt Yacko struck out two in the ninth.
Carlos Martinez had two hits (one for a triple) and two RBI. Wilin Rosario also had a triple and an RBI. Forty-sixth round pick Jimmy Cesario made his debut, had a hit, and struck out three times.