JOLIET – The Gateway Grizzlies and Joliet Slammers resumed their suspended contest from Tuesday night at Slammers Stadium, with the Grizzlies winning the nine-inning contest 5-1 behind outstanding pitching from Alvery De Los Santos (1-1) and Matt Hickey. Then, they got another great start from Tyler Cornett (5-1) in the second contest, as he out-dueled Zac Westcott (6-5) in a 3-1 Gateway victory, as the Grizzlies clinched their sixth consecutive series win overall.
When the Tuesday contest resumed in a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the fourth, the Grizzlies got to Zach Grace (0-2) right away in the top of the fifth inning. Cole Brannen singled and stole second base leading off the inning, and Tate Wargo reached first base on a bunt single, with Grace throwing the ball away to first for an error that scored Brannen and made it 1-0. Jose Alvarez then extended his hit streak to nine games in a row with an RBI single that made the score 2-0.
De Los Santos would hold that lead, tossing 3 1/3 innings to begin the day for Gateway. He surrendered six singles in the game, four of which came in consecutive at-bats for the Slammers in the bottom of the sixth, but just one run, as on Brandon Heidal’s RBI single that got Joliet on the board in that inning, Brannen thew out Jeissy De La Cruz trying to score the tying run.
Gateway would add on late in the game, as with two outs in the top of the seventh, Edwin Mateo bunted his way on base, stole second, and scored on an RBI single by Peter Zimmermann to make the score 3-1. The Grizzlies would score two more times in the eighth inning on back-to-back RBI singles by Alvarez (giving him 10 RBIs on the road trip) and Abdiel Diaz for the final 5-1 margin, with Hickey finishing the series opener by firing two scoreless frames out of the bullpen.
In the second game, the Grizzlies went to work right away against Westcott, getting three singles off the veteran right-hander, including an RBI hit by D.J. Stewart to take a 1-0 lead. Like Gateway did in the first game, however, a second run was cut down at the plate by the Slammers’ Chris Davis, and in the bottom of the inning, Cornett walked Liam McArthur leading off the frame, and he scored the tying run on an RBI single by Antonio Valdez, tying the game at one.
Both starters would then settle into a groove. With the lead run in scoring position, Cornett struck out Jonathan Sierra and De La Cruz looking to preserve the tie, then retired the next nine Joliet batters he faced. Westcott also began mowing down Grizzlies batters, and after Cornett worked around another leadoff walk for a scoreless fifth inning, Gateway would break the tie in the top of the sixth of the seven-inning contest.
With one out, Zimmermann singled, and David Maberry was hit in the hand by a pitch. Initially, it was ruled the ball hit Maberry’s bat, but the call was overturned in an umpire conference. Stewart moved the runners to second and third base with a ground ball to the mound, and Westcott then uncorked a wild pitch, scoring the go-ahead run and making it 2-1 Grizzlies.
Mateo then ambushed Westcott’s first pitch of the seventh inning for a solo home run and a 3-1 Gateway lead, setting up Leoni De La Cruz in the bottom of the seventh. The southpaw issued a two-out walk to bring the tying run to the plate, but struck out McArthur swinging to end the game as the Grizzlies clinched the series at Slammers Stadium.
Gateway will now look to sweep the midweek series from the Slammers in the series finale on Thursday, July 24, at 6:35 p.m., with Deylen Miley getting the call to conclude the road trip against Joliet veteran right-hander Geno Encina for an outstanding matchup on the mound to cap the three-game set.
