June 25, 2010

Shreveport, LA – The El Paso Diablos took the first game of their double head with the Shreveport-Bossier Captains 2-1 and before finishing the second game, the game was called due to curfew.  At the time of the game being called the Diablos were trailing 7-6 going into the final inning.

In game one the Captains took the lead with one run in the second inning.  The Diablos scored one run on a Bryan Smith RBI double in the fourth inning to tie it and then took the lead on a Benji Johnson home run on the fifth.  Benji’s home run would end up holding up as the winning run.  The bull pen was living dangerously down the stretch but got some very fine defense from their outfielders.  Rico Santana made a catch while crashing into the wall in right for the final out of the sixth.  Jeff Vincent came up with the biggest catch of the night.  With the bases loaded and two outs in the final inning, Vincent made a diving catch to preserve the Diablos victory.

The two teams combined for only 12 hits with El Paso collecting only five.  Bryon Smith was the only Diablo with two hits going 2-3 with a double and an RBI.  Amad Stephens (3-4) pitched five innings allowing only one run on six hits to pick up his third win of the season.  Nick Renault pitched the final inning to register his third save.

In game two the Diablos would grab a quick lead on a Rico Santana RBI single.  The Captains came back immediately.  An El Paso error helped them to tie the game in the bottom of the first and then they claimed the lead with a four run second inning.  The Captains added a run in the third to make their lead 6-1, but the Diablos answered back with three in the top of the fourth.  Rico Santana had a home run and Hector Bernal had a two RBI double.  El Paso scored again in the fifth inning to tie the game on a two RBI double by Jeff Vincent.  The Diablos were able to chase Captains’ starter Osvaldo Rodriguez in the fourth inning to end his streak of wins at eight.  The Captains came back to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth when a Jovanny Rosario RBI single with two outs made the score 7-6.  Due to the league curfew the game was called before the Diablos came to hit in the final inning.

The first game will start at 5:05 and the second game will immediately follow.  The Diablos will send D.J. Mattox (4-4, 5.32) to the mound against Ryan DiPietro (3-0, 3.50) in game two.  Both games can be heard online at www.diablos.com.

Link to Game 1 Boxscore http://am-association.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=20340