Rancho Cucamonga 2B Sam McWilliams went 3-for-5 with a double and a 2-run homer to power the Quakes to their fourth straight win in Visalia Friday night. The visitors broke open a tense, low-scoring contest with late-inning offense while RHP Kendall Williams went four strong innings out of the bullpen to hold down the Rawhide for a 9-1 Quakes win.
McWilliams started the scoring in the first inning with a double and two wild pitches that allowed him to come around and score the game’s first run. 1B Imanol Vargas launched a 2-run shot in the second inning for a 3-0 Rancho Cucamonga lead.
RHP Braydon Fisher went the first four innings for the Quakes and kept the Rawhide off the board while allowing just 1 run and 1 hit with 7 strikeouts. Visalia starter Marcos Tineo shook off the early damage and pitched into the fifth inning with the deficit still 3-0. RHP Conner Mendez came on with one out in the fifth and went 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
Rancho Cucamonga P Kendall Williams
When Visalia pushed across a run in the sixth on an A.J. Vukovich sacrifice fly, the game entered the late innings with Rancho Cucamonga holding a 3-1 lead. But the Quakes busted out for two runs in the seventh and four in the eighth while Kendall Williams (W, 3-1) covered four innings and allowed just 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks with 4 strikeouts. RHP Carlos De Los Santos allowed two hits in a scoreless ninth inning to finish it off.
Rancho Cucamonga (38-31) stretched its divisional lead to two games and moved a game closer to San Jose (44-26) for the second playoff spot.
Visalia has had difficulty with games getting away early in the wake of promotions to High-A for starters Blake Walston and Brandon Pfaadt. While it didn’t look good for Tineo initially in his first start of the season, he settled down and kept the situation manageable at 3-0. He went 4 1/3 and allowed 3 runs on 3 hits and 4 walks with 6 strikeouts.
Fisher’s solid four-inning start was followed up by Williams who came out for the fifth and retired the Rawhide on seven pitches. The two combined for 8 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 3 walks and 11 strikeouts.
SCOREBOARD
STOCKTON – 10
SAN JOSE – 5
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MODESTO – 3
FRESNO – 6
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LAKE ELSINORE – 11
INLAND EMPIRE – 2
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