Grizzlies Report for Aug. 12: Fresno 5, Albuquerque 4

Tuesday recap: Matt Duffy provided the power with a two-run triple in the third inning, Dan Straily delivered a solid start by allowing two earned runs over five innings and Jonathan Villar’s run-scoring single in the fourth brought home what proved to be the winning run as Fresno beat Albuquerque 5-4 for its ninth win in the past 10 games. The Grizzlies lead the Pacific Coast League’s Pacific Northern Division by 12 games over Tacoma and Reno as they continue to close in on the second postseason berth in the franchise’s 18-year history. Duffy’s two RBIs give him 88 for the season.

Grizzlies on Wednesday: Fresno RH Mark Appel (1-2, 4.62 ERA) continues his Triple-A education as the Grizzlies face Albuquerque at 5:35 p.m. in game 2 of a four-game series and brief road trip. Appel had back-to-back strong starts at Tacoma (six IP, four hits, one run) on July 25 and vs. Albuquerque (seven IP, three hits, one run, 10 K’s) on Aug. 1, but backslid a bit while allowing four walks and three earned runs in 4.2 IP to Sacramento on Thursday. The Isotopes send RH Jair Jurrjens (2-5, 7.09) to the hill. He allowed four runs (all in the fourth) in five innings in that Aug. 1 game. The Grizzlies won 9-7 on Max Stassi’s two-run homer in the 12th.

Stat of the day: 192-71 — Appel’s career strikeouts and walks for a ratio of 2.7, slipping this year while fanning 81 and issuing 38 bases on balls (2.1) at Fresno and Double-A Corpus Christi. With the Grizzlies, he is striking out 7.8 per nine innings.

This story was originally published August 11, 2015 at 10:00 PM with the headline "Grizzlies Report for Aug. 12: Fresno 5, Albuquerque 4."