Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Grand Prairie AirHogs 6, Fort Worth Cats 5

By Pegasus News wire

J.B. Tucker's two-run home run in the eighth inning was the difference as the Grand Prairie AirHogs defeated the Fort Worth Cats 6-5 in Game 1 of the Division Series Monday night at LaGrave Field.

A crowd of 3,011 fans saw the Cats jump out to a 2-0 lead. In the second inning, Charles Carter singled home Jake Gautreau to get the Cats on the scoreboard. In the fourth, they added to their lead as Nelson Teilon scored on an error by left fielder Aaron Garza.

The next half-inning, Garza atoned for his error with a solo homer off Cats' starter Joel Kirsten to cut the Cats' lead in half. They tied the game later that inning on an RBI double by Billy Munoz.

Fort Worth responded quickly in the bottom of the fifth as they re-claimed the lead on a Pat O'Sullivan sacrifice fly and a Teilon RBI single. But Grand Prairie again had an answer as Brandon Carter delivered a two-out, two-run single to left to knot the game 4-4 in the sixth.

In the eighth with one out, Brian Martin walked Derek Nicholson, the first batter he faced. The next batter, Tucker, belted a 3-1 offering on to the berm in left and gave the AirHogs their first lead of the game at 6-4.

John Allen homered to lead off the bottom of the eighth, but the Cats left a runner in scoring position in the eighth and then were shut down in the ninth by Grand Prairie closer James Morrison, who retired all five batters he faced to earn the save.

Geivy Garcia (1-0) got the win after working a scoreless seventh inning. Martin (0-1) took the loss after permitting the Tucker homer.

The AirHogs won despite committing five errors in the game. Fort Worth left eight runners on base in the game, including five in scoring position.

Source: Fort Worth Cats

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