For the second straight day, the ThunderBolts offense was held in check and the Gateway Grizzlies defeated the Bolts 6-1 at Standard Bank Stadium on Saturday night.
Brent Solich started for the ThunderBolts and struggled early. He allowed back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases before recording an out. Charlie Lisk came up and lined one off of Soilch that turned into an RBI base hit. Solich remained in the game and got the next two hitters on pop-ups before getting a groundout to end the inning.
Windy City wasted no time in tying the game. Kent Gerst led off the bottom of the first with a triple and Zach Aakhus singled him in making it 1-1. After an out, Jeremy Hamilton singled and JT Restko walked, loading up the bases. But John Flanagan struck out Ryne White and forced Mike Torres into a groundout to get out of the inning.
Flanagan did not allow another runner past second base the rest of the game. He threw eight innings and allowed just five hits in his fifth win of the year (5-2).
The game winning scores came in the third when, with two outs, Logan Parker doubled in a run and scored on a Breck Draper single. The Grizzlies added two runs in the fifth on a Matt Miraldi two-out, two-run double. The RBI were the first of Miraldi’s career. The last run came off of reliever Joe Scumaci in the sixth. Jason Patton singled in Eric Blackwell with two outs to make the final score 6-1. Brent Solich took the loss (3-5), allowing five runs in five innings.
The ThunderBolts and the Grizzlies wrap up the series Sunday night in the final game before the All-Star break. Thomas Mueller (0-0) makes his first start of the season after appearing in 13 games out of Mike Kashirsky’s bullpen. He’ll be opposed by Gateway’s Tim Clubb. The game begins at 6:05. Radio coverage can be found on WXAV 88.3 fm.
