Grizzlies Report for Aug. 4: Fresno 4, Albuquerque 1
Tuesday recap: The Fresno Grizzlies are enjoying their best four-game stretch of starting pitching this season, if not the best ever in the 17-year franchise history. On Tuesday, Brady Rodgers threw seven shutout innings in his return from the seven-day disabled list as the Grizzlies downed the Albuquerque Isotopes 4-1 before an announced crowd of 5,477 at Chukchansi Park. A night earlier, the Grizzlies won 6-0 behind Mike Hauschild’s eight shutout innings. And in the two starts over the weekend, Brett Oberholtzer and Mark Appel each allowed just one run over eight and seven innings, respectively. That’s just two runs allowed over the past 30 innings combined by Grizzlies starting pitchers. The Grizzlies got on the scoreboard Tuesday thanks to a pair of RBIs from Andrew Aplin, and an RBI each from Jonathan Villar and L.J. Hoes all during the second inning. Rodgers struck out six and walked just one and held the Isotopes to seven hits.
Grizzlies on Wednesday: The last series in this season’s Highway 99 rivalry opens at Chukchansi Park at 7:05 p.m. Heading into the final five games against the River Cats, the Grizzlies lead the series 7-4. Grizzlies RH Asher Wojciechowski (6-2, 5.42) will face River Cats LH Nik Turley (5-5, 4.90). Wojciechowski has been in a rough patch for a little over a month, owning an 8.71 ERA through his past six starts. Turley is a distant relative of 1958 AL Cy Young Award winner Bob Turley. allowed just one run in seven innings in his previous outing. But he is 2-2 with a 6.17 ERA on the road this season, with opponents hitting .333 against him.
Stat of the day: 2002 — the last time the River Cats had a losing season upon finishing 66-78. Entering Tuesday, Sacramento (51-59) was eight games below .500 and in last in the Pacific Coast League’s Pacific Northern Division and trailed the Grizzlies by 11 1/2 games.
Stat of the day II: 27,222 — the number of tacos sold at last year’s Taco Truck Throwdown. This year’s event is Thursday and organizers are hoping to sell 30,000. Gates open at 5 p.m. for the 7:05 game.
This story was originally published August 4, 2015 at 9:52 PM with the headline "Grizzlies Report for Aug. 4: Fresno 4, Albuquerque 1."