Ogden Raptors pitch out of jams, make lead hold in 3-2 win at Glacier
Sometimes you don’t need to be perfect if you make timely, big plays.
That was the case for the Ogden Raptors pitching staff Wednesday as four relievers held on to a 3-2 lead and secured a victory over the Glacier Range Riders in Kalispell, Montana.
With Ogden leading 3-0 in the third inning, Glacier (10-4) broke the seal against Raptors (3-11) starter Guillermo Cuevas when designated hitter Christian Kirtley hit a solo home run in the bottom half.
Shortstop Andy Atwood cut the deficit to 3-2 in the fourth with one of his two doubles, scoring Jake Simons for the home team.
Alex Friesen, who picked up the win for Ogden, gave up one hit and struck out three in the fifth and sixth innings.
That’s when the Raptors started to play with fire despite handing the ball to the preferred late-bullpen duo of Christian Griffin and Bruce Yamamoto.
In the seventh, Griffin issued a walk and a Range Rider reached base on a dropped third strike. With two outs and runners on second and third, the Raptors chose an intentional walk to load the bases — then Griffin struck out Joe McLaughlin to end the inning.
In the eighth, Yamamoto surrendered a leadoff double to Simons, who was later thrown out at third base. But Yamamoto walked two batters and, with two outs, Ogden gave the ball to big lefty closer Quinn Waterhouse.
With the go-ahead run on base, Waterhouse struck out Kirtley to end the inning.
Waterhouse walked one batter in the ninth but struck out two more, fanning McLaughlin to end the game. The Glacier outfielder struck out four times and left seven on base.
Overall, Raptors pitchers withstood issuing seven non-intentional walks by striking out 15 batters and allowing just six hits.
Ogden totaled only five hits but got things going when outfielder Kenny Oyama hit a solo homer in the first inning.
The Raptors cashed in on an error when, in three straight at-bats with two outs in the third inning, Chris Sargent singled home Jack Cone, Nick Ultsch singled, and Pearce Howard singled to score Sargent for a 3-0 lead.
The teams play Game 3 of the six-game series at 7:05 p.m. Thursday.
