Jays Squeak Out 8-7 Win Over Indians

By PLB Admin

The Indians flew out of the gates scoring six runs in the first two innings of play.  Although the Jays were scoreless in their first three innings of play, a fruitful fourth inning brought three runs cutting the Indians lead in half.  Basehits by Bill Gabler and Tony Doherty, as well as doubles by Tom Giles and Scott Geisler produced baserunners that mustered the three runs.  Giles, Geisler, and Gabler were credited with the RBI's that got the Jays going in the fourth.

Jays rookie, Corey Goblirsch, who was celebrating his 18th birthday, pitched 4 1/3 innings before being relieved by Aaron Johnson.  Johnson would hold the Indians scoreless, allowing a single hit in his 4 2/3 innings of work.

In the sixth, the game would be broke wide open.  Giles reached first on a walk, then with one strike, Aaron Johnson would come through with a shot over the left-center field fence scoring two more runs and bringing the Jays within one run of the Indians.  Geisler, Gabler, and Travis Johnson would reach base in time for Jason Heimerl to single and score the run that tied it all up.

More singles by Aaron Johnson and Gabler in the eighth produced more runners, and a single by Travis Johnson would drive in Aaron Johnson for the go-ahead run.

The ninth inning would bring another run when John Stainbrook led off the inning with a solo shot to left. 

With the Jays leading 8-6 going into the bottom of the ninth, knuckle-curve artist, Jason Heimerl was brought in to finish the game.  The Indians managed to bring base runners off of a walk and hit batter and scored an additional run on a fielder's choice bringing them within one run.  With a runner on third and the winning run on first with two outs, Heimerl brought on a groundball to shortstop, Travis Johnson who stepped on second for the third out.

With last night's win, the Jays clinch the third seed in Section 3B for the playoffs begining this weekend.

The Jays playoff schedule will be posted as more details are available.  The first game of the playoffs for the Jays is scheduled for this Sunday, July 25 at 6 PM.  This game will be played at Veteran's Field in Prior Lake. 

Stay tuned to PriorLakeBaseball.com for breaking news and playoff information.