Redbirds cruise past Stingers

Memphis tagged Stinger starter Chris Bootcheck for eight runs in six innings and cruised to an easy 10-4 win over Salt Lake Sunday afternoon.

The Stingers couldn't generate much offense against Redbird starter Dan Haren, who gave up only two runs on eight hits before yielding to the bullpen. Haren struck out just four Stingers, but he forced a lot of ground balls and didn't allow a run until the sixth inning.

"We couldn't do much against him," Stinger manager Mike Brumley said. The Stingers' starting lineup of Chone Figgins, Alfredo Amezaga and Adam Riggs were 0-for-14 against Haren.

Bootcheck started out well, retiring the first three batters, but the floodgates opened in the second with Memphis scoring four times on five hits. The Redbirds reached base by beating out some deep infield hits, that Figgins managed to corral, but couldn't complete the throw to first base for the out.

"Those hits sort of snowballed against us," Brumley said, "Chris had a tough time in the second and third innings. The ball just elevated on him and he let some pitches get over the middle of the plate . . . I thought he settled down after that."

In the third inning after Jon Nunnaly walked, Scott Seabol hit a towering home run that cleared the berm in left field to make the score 6-0. Another home run, this time by Willie Morales — the Redbirds' No. 9 hitter — ricocheted off the light pole in left center, scoring Jason Bowers, who had led off the inning with a triple.

Trailing 8-0 in the sixth, the Stingers finally generated some offense with Gary Johnson leading off with a single and scoring on Robb Quinlan's triple. Quinlan was driven in by Trent Durrington's shot that scooted by Redbird third baseman Bo Hart.

Both teams scored two runs apiece in the eighth inning. The Stingers' runs came on a bases-loaded single by Tom Gregorio that scored Johnson and Quinlan for the final margin of 10-4.

The loss leaves the Stingers a game below .500 at 30-31. Memphis is now 21-41 on the year.

Brumley was satisfied with getting a split against Memphis, given his depleted bullpen. "We have a tough week coming up, but we just have to bear down. We play 10 games over eight days beginning with (league-leading) Sacramento" on Monday night.

BEELINES: Besides his two-run home run for Memphis, Morales also had a sacrifice RBI in the second inning . . .Durrington recorded his 17th stolen base this year but was left on second base when Keith Johnson struck out in the fourth inning . . . After giving up an error in the ninth, Amezaga recorded the final three outs . . . Attendance was 4,433.

---

E-MAIL: jringwood@desnews.com