The Inland Empire 66ers got a big night from C Michael Strentz and ended a five-game losing streak with a 6-4 win over the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes at LoanMart Field Saturday night. Strentz had a homer and two doubles to pace Inland Empire’s 9-hit attack.
The home Quakes, with a sold-out crowd of 4,731 looking on, got on the board in the bottom of the first inning. LF Johan Mieses led off with a double and eventually came around to score on an RBI groundout by SS Erisbel Arruebarrena.
But the 66ers came back against Quakes starter Chase De Jong in the second inning, tying the game on the Strentz homer, his fourth of the season. De Jong was just acquired in a trade from Toronto and was on a pitch count. He was removed from the game with one out in the third after a double by IE CF Bo Way. The final line for De Jong was 2 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, a walk and 3 K’s.
Joe Broussard came in from the bullpen and got two K’s to end the inning, but not before 2B Andrew Daniel doubled in Way to make it a 2-1 lead for Inland Empire.
The 66ers put three more runs on the board in the fourth inning for a 5-1 lead, but Rancho Cucamonga came back for a run in the bottom of the fourth and two runs in the seventh to cut the lead to one. That would be the end of the scoring for the Quakes and an eighth-inning run for Inland Empire produced the final score of 6-4.
Inland Empire hit six doubles and Rancho had five. Strentz went 3-for-4 with the homer, two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored. Way went 2-for-5 with a double and two stolen bases.
Rancho Cucamonga 3B Paul Hoenecke led off the seventh inning with his 20th double of the season, extending his hitting streak to eight games. He’s gone 15-for-33 over that stretch, including five multi-hit games.
Inland Empire’s Ryan Etsell (5-3) went six innings and allowed four earned runs on five hits to post the win. He was backed up by three scoreless innings from the bullpen, one by Brian Loconsole and two perfect innings from Geoff Broussard, who earned his seventh save.
SATURDAY SCOREBOARD
HIGH DESERT 7, LANCASTER 3
Alberto Triunfel goes 3-for-5 with a double and a homer as High Desert gets to .500 and moves to two games behind the Jethawks in the South.
BAKERSFIELD 5, VISALIA 3
Bakersfield breaks the tie in the top of the ninth, Carlos Misell throws a clean inning for his first save.
SAN JOSE 2, MODESTO 0
Chase Johnson and two relievers hold the Nuts to one hit. Fifth-straight win for San Jose, Modesto’s streak stopped at four.
STOCKTON 4, LAKE ELSINORE 2
C Beau Taylor singles in two runs in the sixth to put Stockton up for good.
