Saturday, August 12, 2017

Disastrous 8th inning destroys promising performance

Twice tonight the Diamonds built a four-run lead but could not hold it, finally succumbing to an eight-run eighth inning for Sonoma that featured bad pitching and poor fielding for Pittsburg and a bases-clearing triple by Stompers third baseman Scott David. Sonoma won 11-7.

Lead by catcher Alex McKeon who was 3 for 4 with two runs batted in, the Diamonds took a 7-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth. Joe Lewis pitched a third of the eighth inning, giving up six runs, though only two were earned because of Pittsburg miscues. Joe Mello (1-1) followed giving up two more runs and taking the loss.

Zach Wendorf (1-0) pitched a scoreless top of the eighth for Sonoma and got the victory.

The Arnold Field lights went out for about a half hour in the bottom of the seventh inning. No reason was given for the outage and play resumed once the lights were restored.

The two teams will play the final game of their series Sunday at 6 p.m. in Sonoma.