Thursday, August 09, 2012

AirHogs give up 10 at home for first time

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas –  For the second time this season, the Grand Prairie AirHogs acquired a starting pitcher, only to watch him lose his AirHogs debut to his prior team. This time it was lefty Alain Quijano, who allowed a season-high nine runs on a season-high 12 hits to his former club, the Sioux City Explorers, who beat the AirHogs 10-4 at QuikTrip Park on Thursday.

The win salvaged a win in the last game of the season series for the Explorers (35-43) in their sixth and final game of the season against Grand Prairie (44-34), which allowed 10 runs at home for the first time in 2012.

Quijano (3-7) got a double play to help have a three-batter inning, but gave up three singles and a double in the second as Sioux City took a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, The AirHogs got four straight singles off Jason Jarvis (5-8), but one of them hit Trent Lockwood running from first to second for the first out, and Yasutsugu Nishimoto bounced into a 4-6-3 double play as Grand Prairie was held to one run in the frame.

Sioux City went down in order in the third, but Yusuke Inoguchi hit an RBI triple to make it 4-1 in the fourth, and Adrian Martinez hit a run-scoring double to put the X’s up by four. Quijano, who had allowed only three home runs this season with Sioux City, then allowed a pair of two-run home runs in the fifth as he was knocked out of the game, and Sioux City blew it open.

The AirHogs only mustered single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings and could not string together enough hits for a big frame, as Jarvis, Chuck Lukanen and Andrew Snowdon finished Grand Prairie off.

Notes: Eight AirHogs had at least one hit, and seven Explorers had at least one, including five X’s with at least two hits, three with three and one (Jorge Delgado) with four…Four AirHogs had at least two hits…Neither team walked a batter or made an error.

The 2011 American Association Champion Grand Prairie AirHogs head out for a six-game road trip, starting in Laredo on Friday, August 10, at 7:30 p.m. The next home game at QuikTrip Park is Friday, August 17, against the El Paso Diablos, at 7:05 p.m. That night is Tecate Jerseys off our Backs Night, as well as a free QuikTrip Night with vouches available at local QuikTrip stores. That night is also Pirate Night, with a performance by the Bilge Pumps. 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.