AirHogs Come Back Late, Beat 'Dogs in 11
Stephen Douglas's first hit on Sunday night was an infield single to first base, giving him a 30-game hitting streak, tying him for the all-time American Association record. His second was a base hit up the middle, giving the Grand Prairie AirHogs a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Lincoln Saltdogs in 11 innings in front of a crowd of 1,864 at QuikTrip Park.
The AirHogs (45-27) forced extra innings with a ninth-inning run against Saltdogs closer P.J. Zocchi, as newcomer Joey Gomes and John Alonso led off with singles, before Zocchi's throw to third on a bunt by David Thomas was too late to get pinch-runner Jake Taylor. With the bases loaded and no outs, Chris McMurray bounced the first pitch to third, and Brandon Jones's throw was up the first-base line, but catcher Jeff Howell dove to make the play and kept a foot on the plate for the first out.
Up came pinch-hitter Tyler Henley, who took ball one before fouling off the next two pitches. Zocchi then filled up the count with his next two deliveries, and Henley fouled off the first 3-2 pitch. Henley took the next one just below the knees to force in the tying run. Zocchi then made a nice recovery to force extras, by striking out Danny Figueroa and getting a groundout from Douglas, who was just barely out on a throw by shortstop Vance Albitz.
Jon Hunton (5-1) threw six pitches to get a 1-2-3 10th inning, and Zocchi worked around a one-out single in the bottom half to keep the game going. The AirHogs closer came back for the 11th and got a double play from Albitz after a one-out walk to Joe Ramos, while Grand Prairie got the winning run off Jordan Stern (1-2) in the bottom of the inning.
Thomas singled to center to start the frame, and McMurray bunted him to second. Pinch hitter Zane Chavez struck out, but Stern hit Figueroa to bring up Douglas, who took ball one before his second hit gave the AirHogs their first win of the year when trailing after eight innings.
The Saltdogs (35-38) got their 3-2 lead when Curt Smith welcomed Jon Fulton with a first-pitch single in the seventh to score Albitz, putting AirHogs starter Lance Janke on the hook despite 6 2/3 strong innings. Janke did fall behind 2-0 on a Smith RBI groundout in the fourth and a Jones double in the sixth, but Grand Prairie tied it with their only runs in six innings against Alex Maestri in the sixth when Gomes singled in a pair of runs.
