Chavez and Janke Lead AirHogs to Series Win
Grand Prairie AirHogs catcher Zane Chavez had his first two triples of the season, scoring three times on a 4-for-4 night with a walk, while his pitcher Lance Janke pitched eight innings of one-run baseball as Grand Prairie won the rubber match of their three-game series with the El Paso Diablos at Cohen Stadium on Sunday night, taking the game 10-1.
For the first time in 10 games, Grand Prairie (58-35) took the lead first, getting three straight two-out hits off former teammate Jae Jung (3-5), with Joey Gomes picking up the RBI hit. The AirHogs made it 3-0 in the fourth, getting Chavez's first triple before an RBI double by Guillermo Martinez and a run-scoring single by Stephen Douglas.
El Paso (34-58) got its only run in the fifth after a leadoff triple by Bryan Joynt and an RBI groundout y Kory Drew. But Janke (5-3) did have to work out of major jams in the first two innings, helped out a bit by Diablos baserunners.
In the first inning, Maikol Gonzalez and Albenis Machado singled to start the frame, putting runners at the corners with no one out. With Nelson Teilon up, Machado was caught stealing second while the AirHogs held Gonzalez at third. Janke then struck out Teilon and got Javier Brito to ground out.
An inning later, the Diablos again had runners at the corners with no outs, before Brian Joynt struck out for the first out. With Adam Deleo batting, Alberto Espinosa was picked off first by Chavez, and he broke for second, getting in a rundown while Uriak Marquez broke for the plate. Shortstop German Duran alertly stopped the rundown and threw home to nip Marquez, and Deleo then popped out to end the inning.
Jon Fulton finished things off with a scoreless ninth, working around a two-out single.
