SAUGET – The Gateway Grizzlies got yet another outstanding start on the mound on Sunday against the Windy City ThunderBolts from Teague Conrad (7-3), who followed up his complete-game shutout on Tuesday with six more shutout innings, while the bats got going late in an 11-5 win at Ozinga Field, dropping the Grizzlies’ magic number to clinch a playoff spot down to 4.
Gateway’s offense broke through for the game’s first run in the third inning against Buddie Pindel (7-7), with Dale Thomas and Edwin Mateo executing a double-steal for a 1-0 lead. They would expand the lead to 4-0 in the top of the fifth inning, with Mateo reaching on a one-out walk, and going to third base on a single by Jose Alvarez. Thomas then singled to right field to make it 2-0, and Victor Castillo stayed hot with an RBI double in the next at-bat to make it a 3-0 lead. Peter Zimmermann brought in an additional run with a groundout, getting his 50th RBI of the season while increasing the margin to 4-0.
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Conrad, meanwhile, dealt again for the Grizzlies, allowing just one hit and two walks in his time on the mound over six innings, striking out seven to eventually earn his seventh win of the season. The rookie right-hander has now pitched 21 straight scoreless innings over his last three starts.
The Grizzlies would add a big insurance inning in the top of the eighth against the ThunderBolts’ bullpen, batting around and scoring seven runs in the frame to take an 11-0 lead, tying their most runs scored in a single frame on the year. The rally featured a two-run homer by D.J. Stewart, a bases-clearing double by Zimmermann, an RBI double by Abdiel Diaz, and a bases-loaded walk by Castillo, which gave the rookie outfielder six RBIs in the series.
Up 11-0 into the bottom of the ninth inning and having shut out the ThunderBolts for the entire series, Windy City would finally score in the frame, and in fact batted around to score five times, but it was too little, too late to change the final result as the Grizzlies recorded their fourth series sweep of the season. In the process, Gateway’s team scoreless inning streak on the mound ended at a whopping 30 innings even.
The Grizzlies will next return home to Sauget, and will open up a series against the Florence Y’alls at Grizzlies Ballpark on Tuesday, August 20. First pitch in the series opener is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT
Miley Makes History As Grizzlies Shut out ThunderBolts
The Gateway Grizzlies got a truly historic and dominant performance on the mound from Deylen Miley (8-3) on Saturday night, as the right-hander struck out a Grizzlies-record 16 batters in seven shutout innings (including 10 straight at one point), while also setting a new Gateway single-season record for strikeouts in a 5-0 victory over the Windy City ThunderBolts at Ozinga Field.
Miley started off his historic night by walking Cam Phelts in the first inning, but striking out the next two batters while Phelts was also caught stealing to end the inning by Jose Alvarez. In the second inning, he fanned the first two batters he faced, with his strikeout of Emmanuel Sanchez for the second out setting a new Grizzlies single-season record of 136, surpassing teammate Collin Sullivan’s mark of 135 from just last year.
In the top of the fourth, the Grizzlies would take the lead- Dale Thomas led off with a double, and scored on an RBI single by Victor Castillo to make it 1-0. Peter Zimmermann then hit an RBI double later in the inning for a 2-0 lead. In the following frame, Thomas and Castillo were at it again, with the former making the score 3-0 on an RBI groundout, and the latter rapping an RBI double with two outs to increase the Grizzlies advantage to 4-0. Castillo would also get another two-out RBI double in the top of the seventh inning for the final 5-0 margin.
But the unquestioned story of the night was Miley. In the fourth, after the Grizzlies took their initial lead, and already with five strikeouts in the game, he allowed a leadoff triple to Cam Phelts. What followed was an unbelievable streak of dominance, as the Grizzlies’ right-hander struck out 10 consecutive batters, a streak that spanned the fourth through the seventh innings that is believed to be a Frontier League record.
With the tenth and final strikeout of that streak, he recorded his 15th strikeout of the game, setting yet another Gateway club record for strikeouts, surpassing Derek Blacksher’s mark of 14 batters fanned from August of 2008. All told, Miley ended up with seven innings pitched in the game, allowing no runs on two hits with a pair of walks and 16 strikeouts, earning his eighth win of the season. He is also now sixth in Frontier League history in strikeouts by an individual pitcher in a single campaign.
But the history did not stop there for the Grizzlies, as Matt Hickey struck out one batter in the eighth, and Keegan Collett struck out the side in the ninth inning. That gave the Grizzlies’ pitching staff 20 strikeouts for the game, also breaking the previous team record for a single game of 18. In addition, with their second straight shutout on the mound, Gateway’s staff has now pitched a season-high streak of 21 2/3 consecutive scoreless frames overall.
Big Inning Leads Grizzlies To Victory At Windy City
The Gateway Grizzlies bunched together all their runs in one inning, scoring five times in the top of the sixth, while their pitching staff did not permit a single Windy City ThunderBolts runner to cross home plate in a 5-0 win at Ozinga Field on Friday night.
The first four innings were strikingly similar for Alvery De Los Santos (2-1) and Michael Barker (3-7), as neither pitcher allowed a run despite the opposing team having chances to break the 0-0 deadlock. Both teams would leave six runners on base in the first five innings against the other’s starter, but with one out in the top of the sixth inning, it was Gateway who would finally get on the board and take the lead.
Peter Zimmermann began the rally with a clean single to left field, and D.J. Stewart followed by reaching on an error by Windy City third baseman Reed Chumley. With no outs, after Zimmermann stole third base, Kyle Gaedele walked to load the bases, and Cole Brannen would also draw the base-on-balls (the sixth and final walk Barker would issue on the day) to force in a run and make the score 1-0 Grizzlies.
After a pitching change, Jose Alvarez came up with a clutch hit- a two-run single off the glove of a diving Christian Kuzemka at first base that increased the lead to 3-0. With men at the corners after the hit, Dale Thomas hit a ground ball to third base to bring in another run for a 4-0 lead, and Victor Castillo capped the rally with a two-out RBI single.
Armed with a 5-0 lead, De Los Santos would have to try and pitch through heavy rains that arrived in Crestwood almost as soon as the final out of the top of the sixth was recorded, but he did so for the shutdown inning, picking up his sixth and seventh strikeouts of the night while stranding two men on base. The right-hander ended up with six shutout innings in his second start of the season, allowing five hits while walking only one to go along with the seven strikeouts.
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