Full Throttle: Chasers Offense Hums in 8-5 Win – Farm to Fountains

It has been all gas, no brakes for the Omaha Storm Chasers over the last five weeks. With three weeks left before the end of the first half of the IL Season, no reason to stop now.

The Storm Chasers wrapped up their weekly series with a victory over the Indianapolis Indians this afternoon at Victory Field by a final score of 8-5. 

Omaha has now won 11 of their last 12 games and 25 of their last 30 dating back to the start of May. Absurd stuff from the Chasers over the last couple of weeks. 

The Chasers dealt the game’s first blow with a three-run 1st Inning. After a single and two walks, Logan Porter scored John Rave on a sacrifice fly to center field. Devin Mann scored on a wild pitch followed by a throwing error by Indy catcher Jason Delay. Nick Pratto then lined a single to center to score CJ Alexander to give the Storm Chasers an early three-run cushion after a half inning.

Omaha added two runs in the 3rd Inning on an RBI double from Logan Porter that scored CJ Alexander. Porter later scored on an error by Indians center fielder Jack Suwinski to make it 5-0 Omaha.

John Rave added to the lead by doubling, stealing a base, then scoring on an RBI single from Alexander to make it 6-0 Chasers in the 4th Inning.

12 Indians faced Anthony Veneziano from innings 1-4. Veneziano retired all 12 Indians in order, including striking out two of them, for a perfect outing.

But the Indians figured out the Chasers bullpen in the 5th. With Austin Cox on the mound, Malcolm Nunez singled andMatt Gorski drove himself and Nunez home with a two-run homer over the right field fence to make it a 6-2 ballgame after five innings. 

Henry Davis singled in the 6th Inning, took second on an error by Nick Pratto, advanced to third on a balk, then scored on an RBI single from Liover Peguero to make it 6-3 after six innings.

The Chasers offense went back to work over the next couple of innings. Logan Porter blasted a solo home run over the left field fence in the 7th Inning and Ryan Fitzgerald scored on an RBI groundout from Rave in the 8th Inning to give Omaha an 8-3 lead.

The Indians got both runs back in their half of the 8th Inning as Peguero doubled in two to make it 8-5 Omaha after eight.

Walter Pennington retired the Indians in order in the 9th to preserve the victory for the Storm Chasers. Omaha goes 6-1 in Indianapolis, including winning the last six games, with an 8-5 win over the Indians.

• With another win AND another SWB loss to Toledo today, the Chasers have their largest 1st Place lead of the season at six games. With any luck, the Chasers could clinch home-field advantage in the IL title game during next week’s series in Toledo.
• Drew Waters was scratched for the second straight game. Lots of rumors floating around about him potentially being called up to Kansas City OR as part of a trade, but nothing confirmed yet.
• I didn’t get to it yesterday, but it was good to see Jonathan Bowlan bounce back from two tough starts with yesterday’s win. He tossed six great innings yesterday allowing one run on four hits while striking out eight. That’s a confidence-building outing.
• Logan Porter wraps up a great week in Indianapolis by going 2-4 today with a solo homer, a double, and three RBIs. Porter went 6-13 this week with four walks and seven RBIs.
• Porter, CJ Alexander, and John Rave each scored two runs. Alexander went 2-4 with a walk and an RBI while Rave went 2-5 with a double and an RBI.
• Austin Cox went two full innings allowing three runs on five hits while striking out two
• Tyler Duffey had another good outing going 1.1 innings and striking out three, but allowed two earned runs on four hits.
• Walter Pennington continues to look sharp. He was credited with his third win of the season, going the final 1.2 innings while striking out two.

The Storm Chasers return to Werner Park next week for a six-game series with the Memphis Redbirds, the Triple-A Affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. The first game of the series is on Tuesday at 7:05 pm.