Hales Shuts Down Pippins, Bats Rally to Give Sox Win

Skylar Hales tossed 4.1 scoreless innings in relief and the Wenatchee AppleSox set a single-game high this summer for runs scored as they defeated the Yakima Valley Pippins, 15-7, on Saturday night at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.

Hales (1-1) turned in his second superb outing of the summer and kept the Pippins at bay while the AppleSox rallied late. He struck out 10, a Sox single-game high this summer, and recorded his fourth scoreless relief outing of three-or-more innings.

Dakota Duffalo, Collin Villegas, A.J. Guerrero, Zach Toglia, Garrett Cutting and Jackson Van De Brake all recorded multi-hit games in the victory. Toglia collected three hits and drove in three as well. Their 15 runs and 16 hits set single-game highs in both categories this summer. Duffalo tied the game with a bases-clearing double in the sixth. Cutting gave Wenatchee the lead with a two-run single in the seventh.

The Pippins scored first with two runs in the second but the AppleSox responded with four in the bottom half thanks to an RBI single from Toglia, a wild pitch to score Guerrero, an RBI double from Michael O’Hara and a sac fly by Van De Brake.

Yakima Valley scored five runs over the next three innings to take a 7-4 lead but that was all that they would get offensively for the rest of the game. The AppleSox added six runs of insurance in the eighth to pick up perhaps their finest win of the summer to date.

The AppleSox look to take the series on Sunday night when they face the Pippins at 5:35 p.m. Cam Liss tosses for the AppleSox against former Sox right-hander Seth Kuykendall. Fans will receive a Liss baseball card as well as an AppleSox cowbell for the first 150 fans.