Otters comeback falls short in loss to Grizzlies

Evansville, Ind. – The Evansville Otters mounted eight hits but the comeback fizzled short in a 4-3 loss to the Gateway Grizzlies Saturday night.

Gateway jumped on Evansville early with two solo home runs in the first inning. A walk followed by a stolen base and base hit made it a three-run first for the Grizzlies.

Evansville fought back with two runs in the bottom of the first. After Noah Myers led off with a double, Dakota Phillips notched an RBI base hit while a fielder’s choice brought in one more run.

The Otters tied the game in the bottom of the fifth as Myers keyed the inning with another leadoff double. A groundout and flyout moved him around to knot the game at three.

Gateway would respond right away in the sixth, scoring the game winning run. Two base hits and a fielders’ choice were enough to score the go-ahead run.

Evansville had runners in scoring position in seven innings but stranded eight total runners with five in scoring position.

Justin Watland worked his longest outing of the season with seven innings pitched but suffered the loss allowing four runs on seven hits.

Leoni de La Cruz and Jon Beymer both worked scoreless innings, improving the Otters bullpen to a 2.36 ERA with just 24 earned runs allowed in 91.1 innings pitched.

Reyes had a base hit to move his hit streak to 10 games. Bryan Rosario notched a two-hit night along with his league leading 26th stolen base. Phillips had a second straight multi-hit night.

Evansville and Gateway face off in a series decider Sunday evening at Bosse Field. First pitch is slated for 6:35 PM CT on a Dog Days of Summer Sunday with fans encouraged to bring their dog and enjoy discounted hot dogs.

All home and road Otters games this season are televised on FloSports with audio-only coverage available for free on the Evansville Otters YouTube page.