Friday Pebble Report: Sky Sox sweep double header, GJ gives up 18

Colorado Springs: 7-3 W 7-1 W (61-62)

Colorado Springs swept a doubleheader on Thursday. In game one Chris Volstad improved to 7-4 with a 4.77 ERA as he pitched six innings allowing three runs on eleven hits. Mitchell Boggs pitched a scoreless seventh to end the game.

Xavier Nady and Kent Matthes both had multi-hit games. Ryan Wheeler drove in a pair and so did Nady, while Jordan Pacheco and Matthes each had an RBI a piece.

In game two, Nick Schmidt pitched four no-hit innings with two strike outs before giving way to Rafael Betancourt who allowed one run in one inning in his first work since going on the DL. Rob Scahill pitched two no-hit innings with 5 punch outs to secure the victory as Colorado Springs picked up the offense with a four run fifth inning.

Colorado Springs got a home run in the third, fourth and fifth innings as Tim Wheeler hit his 4th home run, Matthes his sixth and Ryan Wheeler his 10th to pace the offense. Ryan Wheeler's grand slam capped off the scoring and improved his RBI total to 78 for the season to go along with a .306 AVG.

Tulsa: 5-3 L (61-60)

Tulsa couldn't mount a big enough rally as a two run ninth inning failed to be enough in a 5-3 loss on Thursday. Starter Tyler Matzek struggled through four innings as he allowed three runs on eight hits and three walks. Matzek threw 80 pitches and just 46 for strikes. Dan Houston pitched two scoreless innings to keep Tulsa withing striking distance, but Kenny Roberts walked the bases loaded in the seventh while recording just one out before giving way to Juan Gonzalez who allowed two inherited runners to score before the bleeding was stopped.

Kyle Parker drove in his 66th run, Keil Roling his 83rd and Dustin Garneau his 34th, but with just five hits, Tulsa failed to produce enough offense.

Modesto: 4-3 W (62-61)

Modesto swept San Jose and ran their winning streak to four games with a 4-3 come from behind victory. Starter Chris Jensen delivered quality start hurling six innings and allowing three runs all in the sixth on a Ricky Oropesa three-run home run. However, Kraig Sitton pitched a perfect seventh and eighth and Scott Oberg a perfect ninth for his 28th save.

Modesto trailed 3-2 until Will Swanner's two-run blast in the eighth inning gave them the lead for good. The home run was Swanner's 11th. Matt Wessinger and Jordan Ribera also delivered RBIs.

Asheville: 4-1 L (58-62)

Asheville couldn't overcome a four run sixth inning as the offense sputtered to score just one run. Matt Carasiti fell to 2-8 with a 7.41 ERA as he allowed four runs (one earned) in 5.2 innings of work. Shane Broyles pitched 1.1 scoreless innings and Trent Blank threw a scoreless eighth.

Juan Ciriaco and Derek Jones both went 2-for-4 from the top two spots in the lineup, but the rest of the lineup went a combined 2-for-28 in the loss. Ciriaco recorded the lone RBI for Asheville with a single in the fifth.

Tri-City: 5-2 L (26-33)

Johendi Jiminian pitched well, allowing two runs in 6.2 innings of work with five strike outs. but the Tri-City coffense couldn't back up his strong performance as he took the loss. Marc Magilaro allowed three runs (two earned) in .2 innings before Jerad McCrummen came on to stop the damage. McCrummen pitched 1.2 scoreless innings.

Kyle Von Tungeln went 2-for-5 with a triple, double, and an RBI and Chris O'Dowd was 1-for-5 with an RBI. But, Tri-City had just six hits and little other offense in the loss.

Grand Junction 18-5 L (25-28)

Grand Junction pitching got beat up, allowing 18 runs on 14 hits and 13 walks. Starter Peter Tago allowed 10 runs in 2.1 innings on six hits and six walks. Angel Lezma allowed two of Tago's runs to score on an error by Emerson Jimenez, but otherwise pitched a scoreless 1.2 innings. Manuel Montilla gave up four runs (three earned) in an inning, William Waltrip gave up four runs in .2 innings. Carlos Estevez pitched 2.1 scoreless innings to end it.

Ryan McMahon hit his 6th home run and drove in two on a 3-for-4 night, but the offense had no shot over overcoming an 18 run outburst from Missoula.

DSL Rockies 6-5 W (30-33)

The DSL Rockies used a four run ninth inning to come back and win 6-5 on Thursday. Wilson Requena threw three innings allowing two runs. Ronald Harvey pitched 4.2 innings while surrendering two runs and Gustavo Brazoban gave up one run in 1.1 innings.

The offense came alive in the ninth as they produced a walk, a triple, two doubles and a single to score four runs. The scoring was capped off by a Yonathan Daza double that scored the winning run in Randy Reyes.