Cats Rally for 8-6 Win
Drew Knarr
Fort Worth's Cameron Blair takes a swing.
Michael Bell's two-run single highlighted a three-run ninth inning rally as the Cats defeated Sioux Falls 8-6 on Thursday night.
With the win the Cats took 2-of-3 in the series with the Canaries.
Sioux Falls took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single by Joe Anthonsen and an RBI double by Trevor Lawhorn.
The Cats rallied in the fifth as they got a leadoff double from Ryan Patterson. The next batter, Kelley Gulledge doubled in Patterson to cut the deficit to 2-1. Isa Garcia followed with an RBI single to tie the game. Later in the inning, Cameron Blair's RBI ground out brought home Garcia for a 3-2 Fort Worth lead.
After the Cats added a run in the sixth inning to make it 4-2, Sioux Falls rallied to score four in the bottom of the seventh, highlighted by a two-run single by Cory Harris.
But the Cats rallied to score a run in the eighth as Kelley Gulledge grounded into a 6-4-3 double play and the Cats narrowed the Sioux Falls lead to 6-5.
In the ninth, Chuck Carter led off with an infield single. One out later, Blair doubled to right, sending Carter to third and putting two runners in scoring position for Bell who then singled to left, scoring both and giving Fort Worth a 7-6 lead. John Allen singled home Bell to make it 8-6 Cats in the ninth.
Gary Lee came on in the bottom of the ninth for the Cats and allowed only a one-out single before notching his first save of the year. Taylor Parker (2-0) earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief work.
Aaron Cotter (1-1) suffered the loss for Sioux Falls as he allowed three runs on four hits in the ninth.
Brian Fryer's 28-game hitting streak, the longest active streak in the league, came to an end as the Cats' center fielder was 0-for-4 with a sacrifice bunt.
The Cats travel back to the Metroplex and have an off day Friday before opening a series in Grand Prairie on Saturday.
Posted Friday, Jul 17, 2009 - 10:42 AM CST
