The Gateway Grizzlies left 11 runners on base and seven in scoring position in a 3-0 loss Wednesday to the Evansville Otters at GCS Credit Union Ballpark.
Reign Letkeman (1-1) took the hard-luck loss. He allowed three runs over six innings and struck out a career-high six batters without a walk. Gateway (18-29) dropped to 7-13 with a starting pitcher’s quality start — already more losses under those circumstances than the Grizzlies suffered all of last season.
Evansville (27-19) struck first on a two-out Hunter Cullen single in the fifth inning and added two more on Ryan Long’s league-leading ninth home run of the season in the sixth.
Connor Owings extended his hitting streak to six games — the best active streak on the team — with an eighth-inning double, the Grizzlies’ only extra-base hit Wednesday.
Brent Sakurai and Zak Taylor had multi-hit games. Sakurai’s was his team-leading 15th of 2019. Shawon Dunston Jr. added his league-leading 19th stolen base of the year.
Patrick Boyle threw a perfect inning of relief with a strikeout. Ryan Madden and Lucas Lanphere added scoreless innings of their own out of the Grizzlies’ bullpen.
Gateway and Evansville will finish their three-game series Thursday at 7:05 p.m.