The Fort McMurray Giants were just two outs away from winning their third straight game, but the prominent offence of the Lethbridge Bulls spoiled the party as they came back to beat the Giants 7-6 on Saturday evening at Shell Place.
The Giants (3-10) opened up the scoring in the ballgame with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, and added to their lead in the bottom of the fifth with one more run, to take a 3-0 lead through five innings of play.
In the top half of the sixth, the Bulls (9-4) bats came out swinging and scored four runs thanks to a three-RBI double from Alex Bishop, and a RBI single from Dylan Borman.
The Giants came right back in the bottom of the sixth with a run to tie it and took a two-run lead with two runs in the bottom of the seventh.
After a scoreless eighth inning, the Bulls came up to bat in the ninth needing to score at least two runs to prolong the game. After Cale Thornton recorded a one-pitch out to kick off the inning, the Bulls rallied with three runs to take a 7-6 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Giants would threaten, but couldn’t find a way to drive in the tying run as the Lethbridge Bulls stole the game to stay atop the Western Division.
“It was a tough loss, but our bats are starting to click like we knew they would, and things will go up from here.” said Josh Snider.
Tyler Moskalyk pitched another stellar game for the Giants, going 6.1 innings, allowing seven hits, and four earned runs. Offensively, Evan Willow had two-RBI.
With the loss, the Giants remain at the bottom of the West Division, but will still have a chance to win their first series of the season on Sunday afternoon in the series finale with the Bulls.
First pitch for Sunday’s matinee is set for 2:05 p.m. at Shell Place and tickets are on sale at Giants Tickets, or at the Shell Place Box Office.
Sunday’s game will also come live on Country93.3 with Darnell Duff, and Richard Kapach beginning with the pregame show at 1:50.
