A bit short: Raptors shy of attendance record, lose in 12 innings to Orem
The Ogden Raptors battled the Orem Owlz on Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018, at Lindquist Field. With a free ticket promotion, the crowd came just shy of a new single-game attendance record with 5,780 fans filing in. The record is 6,317 in 1997.
Ogden Raptors infielder Jeremy Arocho (8) reacts after scoring the tying run in the bottom of the 10th inning against the Orem Owlz on Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018, at Lindquist Field.
OGDEN — With the Raptors rolling offensively and playing the worst team in the Pioneer League, Saturday was likely to bring a series win and the fourth straight victory for Ogden.
With Weber State Credit Union’s second annual community night, which gave any and all fans free tickets, Saturday was likely to bring a new single-game attendance record at Lindquist Field.
But neither happened. Ogden’s bats fell silent for most of the game before an extra-inning explosion on both sides, and the crowd was big, but not quite big enough. In 12 innings, the Raptors lost 15-12 in front of 5,780 fans.
It was shy of the record of 6,317 set in 1997 and the loss dropped Ogden to 33-16 overall and 7-4 in the second half.
The game entered extra innings tied 4-4 after Ogden got its first hit in seven innings. Matt Cogen singled in Eric Peterson in the eighth inning, finally getting to Christopher Molina with the only hit he allowed in five innings of relief.
Fans saw a new pace-of-play rule for the first time at Lindquist Field that, in the minor leagues, puts a runner on second base to begin each half-inning of extra play. Instead of making the game end more quickly, it resulted in oodles of runs and a marathon finish.
Orem went first in the 10th with Rayneldy Rosario on second. He was pushed to third on a groundout and, with Ogden’s infield in, Mitch Spires bounced one over Jefrey Souffront’s head at third base to take a 5-4 lead.
The Raptors needed until their last strike to extend the game in the bottom of the 10th — and the help of the league’s most error-prone defense. Peterson, just assigned to Ogden from Double-A, grounded to Jeremiah Jackson at shortstop, who airmailed first base allowing Jeremy Arocho to score and send the game to the 11th inning.
Orem beat up Luis Pasen in the 11th, his third relief inning, when D’Shawn Knowles sliced a triple to left field just in and out of the glove of a diving Daniel Robinson. That gave Orem a 6-5 lead, and Conor Fitzsimons followed by crushing a three-run blast to left-center for a 9-5 lead.
Ogden somehow answered. Tre Todd singled to score Cogen, who began the inning at second. The Raptors cut it to 9-8 when Arocho grounded to Jackson, who erred again, and Daniel Robinson grounded out to score Kenneth Betancourt to tie it 9-9 and send it to the 12th inning.
But Orem kept hitting. After a pair of wild pitches scored a run to make it 10-9, a pair of infield singles and a double from D’Shawn Knowles made it 12-9. Ogden missed a play at the plate, a wild pitch scored another after that, and Mario Sanjur singled in one more run to make it 15-9.
And that still wasn’t quite it. Dillon Paulson scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 12th and Todd singled in two more, cutting it to 15-12, before Marco Hernandez grounded into a double play and ended the game.
After the teams combined for eight runs in nine regulation innings, they scored 19 in three extra frames and the game clocked in at 4 hours, 17 minutes.
About 1,500 fans stuck it out to see the postgame fireworks.
James Outman led Ogden at the plate, going 4 for 6. Ronny Brito hit a three-run home run in the first inning that stood as Ogden’s only runs until the eighth inning.
The two teams finish their four-game series at 4 p.m. Sunday before the All-Star break. The All-Star game is played Tuesday in Grand Junction, with days off on Monday and Wednesday.
TRANSACTIONS
Pitchers Mark Washington (to Single-A Great Lakes) and Elio Serrano (to High-A Rancho Cucamonga) both departed the Raptors on Saturday.
Peterson, who played in Ogden last season, was assigned to the Raptors from Double-A Tulsa where he played seven games.