It was a classic Omaha Storm Chasers baseball game to kick-off the second half of the Triple A season. An opportunistic offense and a dominant pitching staff.
Omaha scored five of their six runs in the 2nd Inning and only used three arms to cool off a surging Columbus Clipper squad to take a 6-1, series-opening victory at Huntington Park tonight.
The win snaps a four-game losing streak for the Chasers and they’ve now won six in a row against the Clippers dating back to mid-May, when they won the final five of six games against Columbus at Werner Park.
Nate Eaton got things going for the Storm Chasers in the 1st with his second home run in as many days. He drilled the first pitch from Jaime Arias, a hanging breaking ball, 406ft to left field for his eighth homer of the regular season to make it 1-0 Omaha after an inning.
The Chasers broke the game open in the 2nd with a couple of bases-loaded situations. Back-to-back singles from Drew Waters and Brian O’Keefe, followed by a walk from Kevin Padlo, loaded the bases for Omaha with nobody out. Ensuing at-bat, Cam Devanney walked in Waters on a full count to make it 2-0. John Rave then blooped a single to center to score O’Keefe and Padlo to make it 4-0. A few batters later, Nick Pratto lashed one into the gap in right-center to bring in Devanney and Rave to give the Chasers a touchdown’s worth of a lead after two innings.
Anthony Veneziano took it from there for the next couple of innings. Veneziano only walked three batters and allowed just one hit in five innings. He also struck out four batters. One of those strikeouts came with two men on and two out in the 5th. He struck out Christian Cairo on a 92 MPH fastball at the top of the zone to end the outing and get out of a jam.
Kris Bubic allowed the game’s only run for the Chasers in the 6th. After coming in to relieve Veneziano, he surrendered a double to Juan Brito and he would later score on a single from Kyle Manzardo. Bubic struck out Myles Straw to end the inning.
Bubic finished the game going 2 1/3 innings of relief allowing that earned run on three hits while striking out two.
Evan Sisk went the rest of the game and got Bryan Lavastida to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the game and give the Chasers the win.
NOTES:
- Nate Eaton and Nick Pratto both had multi-hit games. Two hits each and three RBIs combined (Pratto had two)
- Pratto’s two RBIs got him to 40 in the regular season.
- Drew Waters went 1-4 with a run scored. He also stole his 10th base of the season.
- Kevin Padlo went 0-2 today, but he walked twice and scored a run. Productive game.
- Cam Devanney drove in his 41st RBI of the season with that RBI walk in the 2nd.
- Tyler Gentry and Devin Mann both walked but also went 0-4.
- The final line on Evan Sisk: 1 2/3 innings, one hit, three strikeouts. He has an ERA of 2.22.
- Ten combined strikeouts for the Omaha pitching staff tonight.
NEXT GAME:
The Chasers and Clippers continue their series tomorrow at 6:05 pm at Huntington Park. According to MiLB.com, Andrew Hoffman will start for Omaha against Guardians rehabber Gavin Williams.
