The Reno Silver Sox stayed winless in the Golden Baseball League as their comeback fell short on Tuesday in a 12-9 loss to the St. George RoadRunners in Utah.
St. George scored 11 runs in the first three innings and used outstanding defense and clutch relief pitching to hang on for the win. St. George was able to rough up Reno starter Jason Cline as the Silver Sox fell to 0-4 on the season.
The RoadRunners scored four runs in the second inning to take a 5-0 lead on a Wiki Gonzalez two-run double and a two-run home run by former Silver Sox player Mike Done.
Reno cut the deficit to 5-4 in the third. Andre Alvarado hit an RBI double and Bub Madrid and former RoadRunnner Brett Flowers each had an RBI single during the rally.
St. George broke the game open with six runs on six hits in the bottom of the third to take an 11-4 lead. Two runs scored on an error with the bases loaded, Greg Lemon hit a two-run double, Lui Rodriguez hit an RBI sacrifice fly and Brandon Taylor had an RBI single during the rally.
The Silver Sox began chipping away at the lead in the fifth. John Hattig clubbed a monster home run to deep center off starter Billy Simon. Will Henderson (1) hit a two-run shot in the sixth off John Segovia and a dropped fly ball by Lemon in the seventh allowed Flowers to score from second base as the Silver Sox closed to within 11-8.
After Taylor singled and stole second, Juan Serrano hit a ball down the right field line and into the corner for a triple, easily scoring Taylor to give St. George a 12-8 lead.
Lino Urdaneta surrendered a ninth inning home run to Flowers, but retired catcher D.J. Dixon to end the game.
Simon (1-1) allowed five runs, four earned, in five innings to secure the win. Cline was straddled with the loss (0-1) after allowing 11 earned runs on 13 hits in three innings.
Reno received a strong showing from rookie right-hander Mario Guilen. He allowed just one hit in four innings of relief, Serrano's double.
Game two of the series is today. Reno is scheduled to start Shawn Ravenscroft, making his GBL debut. St. George will start Justin Abbott, the right-hander from Utah who beat the Long Beach Armada last week. First pitch is at 6:05 p.m. and the game can be heard at Network1Sports.com.