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The Gateway Grizzlies got a truly historic and dominant performance on the mound from Deylen Miley (8-3) on Saturday night, as the right-hander struck out a Grizzlies-record 16 batters in seven shutout innings (including 10 straight at one point), while also setting a new Gateway single-season record for strikeouts in a 5-0 victory over the Windy City ThunderBolts at Ozinga Field.
Miley started off his historic night by walking Cam Phelts in the first inning, but striking out the next two batters while Phelts was also caught stealing to end the inning by Jose Alvarez. In the second inning, he fanned the first two batters he faced, with his strikeout of Emmanuel Sanchez for the second out setting a new Grizzlies single-season record of 136, surpassing teammate Collin Sullivan’s mark of 135 from just last year.
In the top of the fourth, the Grizzlies would take the lead- Dale Thomas led off with a double, and scored on an RBI single by Victor Castillo to make it 1-0. Peter Zimmermann then hit an RBI double later in the inning for a 2-0 lead. In the following frame, Thomas and Castillo were at it again, with the former making the score 3-0 on an RBI groundout, and the latter rapping an RBI double with two outs to increase the Grizzlies advantage to 4-0. Castillo would also get another two-out RBI double in the top of the seventh inning for the final 5-0 margin.
But the unquestioned story of the night was Miley. In the fourth, after the Grizzlies took their initial lead, and already with five strikeouts in the game, he allowed a leadoff triple to Cam Phelts. What followed was an unbelievable streak of dominance, as the Grizzlies’ right-hander struck out 10 consecutive batters, a streak that spanned the fourth through the seventh innings that is believed to be a Frontier League record.
With the tenth and final strikeout of that streak, he recorded his 15th strikeout of the game, setting yet another Gateway club record for strikeouts, surpassing Derek Blacksher’s mark of 14 batters fanned from August of 2008. All told, Miley ended up with seven innings pitched in the game, allowing no runs on two hits with a pair of walks and 16 strikeouts, earning his eighth win of the season. He is also now sixth in Frontier League history in strikeouts by an individual pitcher in a single campaign.
But the history did not stop there for the Grizzlies, as Matt Hickey struck out one batter in the eighth, and Keegan Collett struck out the side in the ninth inning. That gave the Grizzlies’ pitching staff 20 strikeouts for the game, also breaking the previous team record for a single game of 18. In addition, with their second straight shutout on the mound, Gateway’s staff has now pitched a season-high streak of 21 2/3 consecutive scoreless frames overall.
Alongside all the history that was made in the game, with both Schaumburg and Florence losing their games as well, the historic victory for the Grizzlies dropped their magic number to clinch a playoff spot for the second straight season down to 5 entering the series finale against Windy City on Sunday, August 18, at 1:05 p.m. CT. Teague Conrad will get the start for Gateway against Windy City ace Buddie Pindel at Ozinga Field.
