Ross Stout came out the victor in a battle of two of the Frontier League's top pitchers Thursday night as Windy City scratched out an unearned run in the eighth inning to beat the Southern Illinois Miners, 3-2, in the finale of a three-game series at Standard Bank Stadium.
The Miners, who won the first two games of the series, are now 23-16 on the season. They fell to 3-1/2 games behind River City in the league's West Division standings, however, as the Rascals completed a sweep of the Miners' next opponent, Evansville, with a 3-1 win Thursday to improve to 26-12.
Tony Roth led off the game with a double and scored after two Windy City errors to stake the Miners and ace pitcher Ryan Bird to a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning. The ThunderBolts only managed one earned run against Bird over six frames, a solo home run by Wilson Motos in the second inning, and the unbeaten righthander eventually left a tied game with no chance of a decision.
Motos, whose home run was both his first roundtripper and RBI of the season, also scored the second run against Bird in the fifth after reaching on an error charged to Miners second baseman Mike Higa. Robert Perry singled to move Motos to second, and after a flyout by Vinnie Scarduzio advanced him to third base, he scored on a single by Guillermo Martinez to put the Bolts ahead.
The Miners tied it on Kevin Koski's run-scoring single in the fourth inning that plated catcher Andrew Sweet, who drew a walk, but could get nothing else against Stout (5-1), whose 10 strikeouts upped his league-leading season total to 56.
Miners manager Mike Pinto went to the bullpen in the seventh inning and got a scoreless frame from Derrick Miramontes before handing it over to Mike Damchuk for the eighth. Damchuk (1-3) took the loss after the Bolts manufactured an unconventional run.
Martinez reached on a swinging bunt, then stole both second and third base before scoring on a ground ball that bounced off Miners third baseman Randy Molina's glove.
Windy City went on to load the bases in the inning but Damchuk struck out pinch-hitter Zach Aakhus to escape any further damage.
Stout was relieved by former Chicago Cubs pitcher Billy Petrick in the ninth inning. The 6-foot-7 veteran righthander retired the side for his third save of the season.
The Miners return home to begin a special three-game weekend series against Evansville starting Friday night at Rent One Park. In celebration of Independence Day weekend, the Miners will wear special jerseys and fans will be treated to fireworks after all three games, which begin at 7:05 p.m. each night.
