Saturday, July 21, 2012

Grand Prairie beats former mate Rainwater

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Nick DeBarr battled through 123 pitches to complete the game and the Grand Prairie AirHogs snapped their eight-game losing streak with an 8-4 win over former teammate Josh Rainwater and the Kansas City T-Bones in front of 3,142 fans at QuikTrip Park on Saturday.

DeBarr (10-3) picked up his fourth complete game of the season, getting his first since June 5. He struck out a season-high eight hitters while walking three, allowing four runs on seven hits – with three of the runs and four of the hits coming in the second inning.

Grand Prairie (38-22) got on the board in the first, with a single by Keanon Simon and a four-pitch walk to David Thomas setting things up. Brian Myrow grounded to first to move the runners up. Andres Rodriguez then lined a ball to short, but Devin Goodwin dropped it and Simon came in to score. A wild pitch and a Greg Porter groundout made it 2-0, and Zane Chavez’s RBI single gave the AirHogs a 3-0 lead.

After DeBarr had a three-batter first and got the first two men in the second, Enrique Cruz ripped a ball past third to start a Kansas City rally in the second, with Hunter Mense’s RBI double and Goodwin’s two-run homer tying the score.

But the T-Bones (33-28) did not score again until the ninth, and the AirHogs notched the three runs back with a two-out rally off Rainwater (4-5) in the second. Simon singled to start it, and after Thomas followed with a single, Brian Myrow doubled to right-center to bring them both in. Another error on a ball hit by Rodriguez – this time by Enrique Cruz at third – made it 6-3, and the AirHogs tacked on one more in each of the next two innings to finish the scoring.

DeBarr allowed a two-out double in the fourth and a leadoff double in the sixth, getting around two other errors as well before heading back out to the mound for the ninth. He walked Trevor Coleman to start the inning, before Cruz flied out to right. A single by Mense and a walk to Goodwin loaded the bases, but Justin Bass hit a sacrifice fly and Gus Milner grounded out to third to end the game.

Notes: The AirHogs improved to 1-4 against Kansas City on the season…DeBarr tied John Brownell for the league lead in complete games…Grand Prairie did not have a hit in the last four innings against Rainwater (one) and Dustin Loggins (three)…Five different AirHogs had RBIs and five different AirHogs scored at least one run.

The 2011 American Association Champion Grand Prairie AirHogs continue their four-game series against the Kansas City T-Bones on Sunday, July 22, at 6:05 p.m. It is Family Sunday at QuikTrip Park, with one-dollar hot dogs and all fans welcome to bring their dogs (as long as it is on a leash). Fans can also play catch on the field an hour before the game. All games are aired live and for free on Ustream by clicking on the link on the AirHogs’ home page or visiting http://www.ustream.tv/channel/airhogs-baseball with selected contests aired on Time Warner Cable’s Texas Channel. For information on tickets, promotions, advertising, and other opportunities with the AirHogs, check out the Web site at www.airhogsbaseball.com, or call the QuikTrip Park office at (972) 504-9383.