Chihuahuas Beat Fresno 6-5 Friday Night
Nick Noonan’s ninth-inning sacrifice fly broke a late tie and helped the El Paso Chihuahuas beat the Fresno Grizzlies 6-5 Friday night at Chukchansi Park. The Grizzlies put two runners on base with one out in the bottom of the ninth but Derek Eitel got Tony Kemp to line out to left field and then struck out Jake Marisnick to end the game.
With the score tied 2-2 in the top of the fourth inning, El Paso catcher Jason Hagerty hit a deep home run into the right field stands to make the score 4-2 Chihuahuas.
James Loney’s RBI double off the glove of diving left fielder Matt Duffy in the eighth gave El Paso a 5-2 advantage. Fresno brought home three runs in the bottom of the eighth to create the late tie.
Friday’s game was El Paso’s first one-run win of the season and only the second one-run contest of the year. There was an unusual stretch of batters between the fourth and seventh innings where 13 consecutive Fresno hitters all walked or struck out without a ball being put in play.
Gameday Box Score: http://www.milb.com/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2016_04_29_elpaaa_freaaa_1&mode=gameday
Team Records: El Paso (9-11), Fresno (9-11)
Next Game: Saturday at Fresno, 8:05 p.m. El Paso RHP Jeremy Guthrie (0-4, 11.50) vs. Fresno RHP Mike Hauschild (1-2, 6.35). Game coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. on 600 ESPN El Paso andwww.epchihuahuas.com
El Paso 6 Fresno 5 – Friday
WP: Eitel (1-0)
LP: Hoyt (0-2)
S: None
Time: 3:21
Attn: 9,643