Diablos win back-to-back games for the first time this season
by Matthew Leland
The Diablos won consecutive games for the first time in 2012, getting six shutout innings from starter Reymond Cruz (2-3) and a tape measure home run from first baseman Jonathan Cisneros en route to a 5-2 victory in game one of a three game series with the Sioux Falls Pheasants.
Cruz was excellent from pitch one, allowing just four hits over his six innings of work and striking out seven. The right-hander did not walk a batter and earned his second win of the season.
Meanwhile, the offense again jumped on the opposing starter early, scoring a run in each of the first three innings off Pheasants starter Alan DeRatt (2-2). Maikol Gonzalez scored in the first inning on a double play grounder and then again in the third on a sacrifice fly off the bat of new acquisition Mitch Einertson. In between, Patrick Arlis knocked in Brian Joynt with a single to right in the second inning.
In the seventh, Cisneros stepped to the plate with newcomer Reid Fronk on first base and launched a two-run blast completely out of Sioux Falls Stadium, his second tater of the year, giving El Paso a 5-0 advantage.
The Pheasants would draw to within three runs with two in the eighth, but relievers Kyle Cremers and Tim Adleman stemmed the tide before Marcel Prado pitched a scoreless ninth for his fourth save.
The win is only El Paso’s second road victory of 2012 and moves the team to 9-27 overall.
The Diablos will try and earn their first series victory behind left-hander Juan Peralta in the second game of the series on Wednesday evening. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. (MST).
