Gateway’s Jairus Richards had three hits, three RBIs, and scored three runs in the Grizzlies’ 12-7 win over Windy City, Thursday night at Grizzlies Ballpark in Sauget. (Photo courtesy: Gateway Grizzlies)
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windy City ThunderBolts | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 3 |
| Gateway Grizzlies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 4 | X | 12 | 12 | 1 |
Steven Millbrook
Staff Writer
Sauget, IL -– The comebacks just keep on coming for the Gateway Grizzlies.
First, after losing all six games on an east coast road trip last week, Gateway came home and snapped that losing streak with coming back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Windy City ThunderBolts on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, the Grizzlies rallied from behind twice — including a walkoff home run in the bottom of the ninth — to win again.
But the best and biggest comeback came on Wednesday, when Gateway rallied from six runs down to pull off a 12-7 victory and complete the three-game sweep over Windy City.
The hitting star of the night was Grizzlies’ leadoff man, Jairus Richards. The all-star rightfielder had three hits, including his eighth homer of the season, three runs batted in, and scored three runs to power the Gateway offense.
With the temperature pushing 100 degrees at first pitch, Collin Sullivan ran into trouble early, surrendering three runs in the third inning and three runs in the fourth before departing the game. Nate Garkow (5-1) then came in and held the line for two and two-thirds innings, striking out four in his longest appearance of the season, allowing the Grizzlies’ offense to go to work against Windy City ace Garrett Christman.
The comeback started in the bottom of the fourth, when Kyle Gaedele continued his incredible series after being activated from the coaching staff with an RBI single that made the score 6-1. Richards then homered off Christman in the fifth to cut the deficit to 6-2, and with two outs and no one on base in the sixth, Gateway put together a remarkable rally to take the lead for good.
Andrew Penner started it with a single, and Gaedele followed up with another single before Christman issued back-to-back walks, including one to Willie Estrada with the bases loaded, to make it 6-3.
After a pitching change, Abdiel Diaz reached on an infield RBI single to make it 6-4, and Richards then stroked a game-tying two-run hit to left-center field against Sebastian Selway (0-2), tying the score at 6-6.
Eric Rivera then tripled to right field out of the reach of a diving Will Riley to score both Richards and Diaz to put the Grizzlies ahead 8-6, capping the incredible frame.
Windy City did not go quietly- the ThunderBolts rallied in the eighth against Matt Valin, scoring one run to make it 8-7, then loading the bases with two outs, but failing to get any closer. In the bottom of the eighth, a two-out error by Micah Yonamine at first base opened the door for four insurance runs to score for the final 12-7 margin.
The Grizzlies will look to keep the momentum going when they play host to the Québec Capitales this weekend in a clash of the first-place teams in the Frontier League’s East and West Divisions.
The series begins Friday, July 28, at 6:45 p.m. at Grizzlies Ballpark, with Joey Gonzalez opposing Québec’s Ruben Ramirez as the opening matchup on the mound.