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Giants sweep Red Sox to set up critical series against Bulls

Last Updated Jul 20, 2018 at 1:29 pm MDT

Fort McMurray Giants Liam Rihela/Dan Lines Photography

The Fort McMurray Giants are playing some of their best baseball of the summer and they’re giving themselves a chance to reach the post-season for the first time in the franchise’s three year history.

For the first time this season the Giants are above .500 during a ten game stretch. The Giants are 6-4 in their last ten games and now find themselves one game out of a playoff spot with nine games remaining in the WMBL season.

The team picked up two huge wins at home against Regina Thursday to keep pace with the Lethbridge Bulls for the final playoff position in the Western Division.

The Giants walked off the Red Sox 5-4 early Thursday afternoon as they completed the final inning of Wednesday’s rain delayed game. They then got a complete game effort from pitcher Tyler Hodder as the Giants swept the Red Sox with an 8-3 win.

“They were great team wins and put us in a pretty good position going into this weekend,” said Giants Manager Pat Riley. “Overall just really happy with the way the team played and played two complete games and to win that rain delayed game, to come back the next day and get that win that was big for momentum and I’m really pleased with the last two nights.”

Winning the first game of the series was huge for the Giants as they led 4-2 going into the 7th inning before allowing the Red Sox to score a run in each the 7th and the 8th innings to tie the score.

Chase Partain had another strong showing on the mound as the left hander threw six innings allowing three runs on five hits. David Craft picked up the win after pitching a scoreless 9th inning. Giants batters were knocking the ball all over the park as they piled up 15 hits in the game including a 3-3 night at the plate for Jordan Stickler.

Jalin McMillan went deep for the fourth time this season as he belted a two run home run in the bottom of the second inning to give the Giants a 3-2 lead at the time. The biggest hit of the game however was from first baseman Brandon Green who hit a single in the bottom of the 9th inning to score Liam Rihela for the winning run.

“To see that especially at this point in the season it’s big for us but those guys have stayed the course. A lot of those guys have struggled early but they stayed the course and they’re still getting their early work in and they’re doing all the right things and to see them having some success is not only great for the team but is great to see for them,” said Riley of the contributions from players right down his line-up. “We’re going to need them, we’re going to need contributions regardless of what a player’s role is but I’m very happy to see those guys play well and hopefully they can keep it going for the final couple weeks.” 

In game two, the Red Sox again took an early lead but it was all Giants after that and Hodder was able to shut the door in an 8-3 win.

The Fort McMurrayite threw his second career complete game and struck out 7 batters over 9 innings.

“His past three or four starts have been very good. He struggled a little bit early in the season but he’s really turned it around and he’s throwing the ball really well and his record is not reflective of how well he’s pitched,” said Riley of Hodder who is 1-3 on the season through 8 starts. “We’re going to need him, he’s one of our top guys and for him to go out there last night (Thursday) and pitch a complete game really helps our bullpen moving into a critical weekend with Lethbridge.” 

A critical weekend with Lethbridge may be an understatement as the three game set could determine the Giants playoff hopes. The Bulls sit one game ahead of the Giants after winning two of three against Brooks this week. The Giants and Bulls haven’t seen one another since the opening weekend of the WMBL season where the Giants won two of three at Shell Place.

“A lot of excitement, you’ve got to take it one game at a time and we’re focused on tonight (Friday). Lethbridge is going to be geared up too as they had a big win last night, the bats really got rolling against Brooks so our team we’re excited for the opportunity and we can’t get over confident or think the situation is too big, we just have to play our game, trust our system and just come out and play hard and hopefully the rest will take care of itself,” said Riley.