Amidst a sky of smoke and falling ash, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes began a best-of-five series against the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres) seeking a game-1 road win in the California League South Division Finals. The Storm sent rehabbing major league pitcher Garrett Richards to the hill while the Quakes countered with Gerardo Carrillo. 

Carrillo came into the series with a 5-9 record in the regular season and a 5.44 ERA over 86 innings. In his last appearance against the Storm, in relief, he went four innings and gave up just three hits, eventually earning the win. Richards gave up a double to Quakes shortstop and SoCal native Jacob Amaya in the first, but he ultimately struck out the side to strand Amaya at third. Carrillo gave up a single in the first, but a double play and ground out also kept the Storm off the board. He gave up two more singles in the second, but nothing came of them. 

Quakes left fielder Starling Heredia led off the third with a single to short, but he was quickly removed from the base paths via a double play. Richards was removed for the fifth, but the Storm pen picked up right where he left off, giving up just one hit, a single to Amaya, throughout the rest of the game. Carrillo had been rolling through the Storm lineup as well but ran into trouble in the sixth inning. With two runners on, Carrillo gave up an RBI double to put the Storm up 1-0. A sac fly would give them a 2-0 advantage before a line out ended the inning. Carrillo returned to the mound for the seventh, recording a 1-2-3 inning, but the damage had already been done and the Quakes offense had been missing all night.  

Melvin Jimenez replaced Carrillo in the eighth. The seven innings from Carrillo matched his career high. Jimenez gave up a walk but got the next three batters out to keep the score 2-0. The Quakes went quietly in the ninth with all three batters striking out to end the game. Altogether, the Quakes lineup struck out 14 times.

Coming Up

The Quakes continue the series tonight with John Rooney getting the start against Storm right-hander Reiss Knehr. Rooney finished the regular season with a 5-2 record and a 3.06 ERA over nine games in the Cal League, all starts. He struck out 45 and walked just 14 over 50 innings. Knehr finished the regular season with a 3-5 record and a 5.43 ERA over 66.1 innings pitched in 17 games, 12 of which were starts. 

The series moves to Rancho Cucamonga on Friday and features a Clayton Kershaw bobblehead giveaway to the first 1,500 fans. 

Minor Leagues – Major Fun!

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