River Cats stay hot, beat Sky Sox 12-4

Originally published on SacramentoPress.com on Aug. 1, 2011

The red hot Sacramento River Cats continued their dominance by defeating the Colorado Springs Sky Sox 12-4 Sunday afternoon at Raley Field.

The River Cats used a seven-run second inning en route to winning their fourth game in a row, also making it their eighth win in the last ten games.

River Cats first baseman Chris Carter started off the scoring in the first inning. With right fielder Jai Miller on first after a one-out walk, Carter sent his ninth home run of the season soaring over the center field wall to give the Cats the first two runs of the game.

The Sky Sox came right back in the top of the second inning with two runs of their own. Sox left fielder Mike Paulk led the inning off with a walk. Third baseman Matt Macri then homered to left field to tie the game at two runs apiece.

The River Cats quickly responded with a seven-run half inning. Left fielder Michael Taylor led off the inning with a double to center field. After Anthony Recker singled to left field, Adam Rosales hit his own double to center field to score both Taylor and Recker.

Cats Jermaine Mitchell and Josh Donaldson would join the fun by hitting doubles of their own, scoring two more runs before any outs had been recorded in the inning. Sacramento’s Matt Carson also hit a double to score two more runs and give the Cats a 9-2 lead in the second inning. Carson’s double was his 34th of the season, bringing him just seven shy of the River Cats franchise record.

The Sox would get two runs back in the top of the third inning on a two-run Mike Jacobs home run, his 21st of the season. This would be the last of the scoring for the Sky Sox in the game.

The River Cats would add on to their lead with another run in the fifth inning and two runs in the sixth. The 12 runs was more than enough run support for River Cats starting pitcher Graham Godfrey.

Godfrey pitched seven innings and gave up four runs on five hits while striking out eight. Godfrey’s performance earned him his team-leading 10th win of the season.

The River Cats look to extend their winning streak with two more games against the Sky Sox on Monday and Tuesday, both starting at 7:05 p.m.