A.J. Reed, Colin Moran and Tony Kemp all homer to power Fresno on Sunday in El Paso
EL PASO - The Fresno Grizzlies (31-33) continued their rapid turnaround, winning for the 13th time in 17 games Sunday evening against the El Paso Chihuahuas (30-34) at Southwest University Park. Fresno is enjoying a 5-2 road trip and an 8-3 month of June during their resurgence.
The Grizzlies jumped all over El Paso starter Tyrell Jenkins, scoring five runs before an out was recorded in the top of the first. Colin Moran (2-for-4, 4 RBI) doubled into the right field corner scoring Tony Kemp (single), Tyler White (single) and Preston Tucker (walk) to make it 3-0 Fresno after four batters. For Moran, it's seven RBI in two games, after he drove in three Saturday with a pair of homers. After the first on Sunday, Moran had driven in six runs in 10 innings.
Juan Centeno's RBI single scored Moran, and Teoscar Hernandez doubled as well into the right field corner, scoring A.J. Reed (2-for-3, 3 RBI) who singled. An Alejandro Garcia RBI groundout completed the first inning scoring for Fresno at 6-0, in what ended up a 10-batter inning.
Reed teed off on his 11th homer of the season in the fifth to make it 9-0, a three-run shot to right field scoring Moran and Tucker after a pair of walks. Reed homered in all three games of the series, and leads Fresno with seven games of three or more RBI (Moran has five). El Paso got two runs back in the home half of the fifth, including a Ryan Schimpf solo shot.
The Grizzlies chased Jenkins after 4.2 innings, despite him settling down after the disastrous first. Jenkins allowed nine earned runs on seven hits, with five walks and four strikeouts.
Kemp (2-for-5) led off the sixth with his second homer of the series, a solo shot to right, his third dinger of the season. It was 10-2 Fresno briefly, before Jabari Blash (2-for-3) drilled his 10th homer of the season to center, a three-run shot. Like Reed, Blash also homered in each of the three games in the series.
Fresno starter Mike Hauschild went 5.2 innings, allowing five earned runs on seven hits and two walks. Hauschild struck out five, and did not allow a run in the first four innings before the El Paso altitude took over.
Still leading 10-5 in the ninth, Colin Moran added his 12th homer of the season (solo shot), and his third in the last two games after going yard twice on Saturday. Grizz fireballer Reymin Guduan struck out a pair to end the ballgame. The Fresno bullpen quartet of Aaron West, Ashur Tolliver, Kevin Comer and Guduan combined for 3.1 innings of scoreless relief to wrap the 11-5 win, allowing just four hits without a walk.
With 11 home runs in the three-game series, including six in Saturday's game, the Grizzlies have hit 83 homers this season, which equals Nashville for the most round-trippers in Triple-A. At the beginning of play on Saturday, Fresno trailed Nashville 79 to 74 in home runs, before ripping off nine in two games.
This season-long 11-game road trip will continue for the Grizzlies on Tuesday at Albuquerque, after an off day Monday. Tuesday's probable starters in the first of four at Isotopes Park are RHP Casey Coleman (2-3, 5.35) for Fresno and RHP Thad Weber (1-3, 6.00) for Albuquerque.
