The Visalia Rawhide got a balanced hitting attack from the offense and an eye-opening debut from lefty Jake Rice out of the bullpen as they beat the Fresno Grizzlies 8-3 at Valley Strong Ballpark Wednesday night. The home team’s 10 hits were spread all across the lineup and the Grizzlies made an uncharacteristic four errors to help Visalia’s cause.
The Grizzlies got on the board first with a two-run homer from 2B Mateo Gil, his sixth of the year, in the second inning off of Visalia starter Luke Albright. Visalia got three runs to take the lead in the bottom of the second inning. DH Jefferson Espinal doubled in a run, followed by a wild pitch to tie the game. Glenallen Hill Jr. singled in Espinal to put Visalia on top.
The teams traded runs in the third inning. Grizzlies RF Zac Veen singled in a run to chase Albright in his pro debut after 2 1/3 innings. Visalia’s Adrian Del Castillo tripled to lead off the bottom of the third and LF Tim Tawa brought him home on a groundout to make it 4-3, Rawhide.
After RHP Alex Valdez finished the third inning in relief of Albright without incident, Visalia went to the lefty Rice and he throttled the Grizzlies offense for 3 1/3 innings, flashing 95 mph heat per the stadium scoreboard. Rice (W, 1-0), a ninth-round pick in this year’s draft, allowed just one hit and no walks with six strikeouts while pounding the strike zone: 43 pitches, 36 strikes.
The Rawhide chased Fresno starter RHP Noah Gotsis in the fourth as they added on with an RBI single from SS Ryan Bliss. A wild pitch by LHP Will Tribucher made it 6-3. Visalia tacked on two more in the seventh on a 2-RBI single from 2B S.P. Chen.
Chen went 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs. Espinal was 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.
The Grizzlies (61-31) lost a game in the standings to San Jose (57-35) but still have a four-game lead. Visalia split their last two series and now are 1-1 with Fresno in this series. Rancho Cucamonga (51-40) is now 5 1/2 games out of the final playoff spot.
SCOREBOARD
SAN JOSE – 4
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – 1
LAKE ELSINORE – 8
INLAND EMPIRE – 6
STOCKTON
MODESTO
Postponed due to poor air quality from wild fire smoke
