Alfonzo's grand slam pushes Beavers past Redbirds 7-2

This is a press release courtesy of the Portland Beavers

Eliezer Alfonzo clubbed a sixth-inning grand slam and drove in five runs total to lead the Portland Beavers to a 7-2 victory over the Memphis Redbirds Tuesday night at PGEPark.

Chad Huffman was 3-for-4, Craig Stansberry homered and had two RBIs, and Walter Silva (2-1) picked up his second win in a row by holding Memphis (22-21) to two runs and just two hits over a season-high seven innings.

Portland (24-22) out-hit Memphis 11-3 to pick up its eighth win in its last 10 games.

After tying the game with an RBI groundout in the fourth, Alfonzo gave the Beavers the lead for good by hitting Portland’s second grand slam of the season. It was Alfonzo’s first grand slam since Aug. 25, 2005, while playing for Class AA Norwich in the San Francisco Giants organization.

Kyle Blanks reached on an error and singles by Emil Brown and Huffman loaded the bases for Alfonzo, whose seventh home run of the season glanced on the lower portion of the manual scoreboard in left-center to snap a tie and give the Beavers a 6-2 lead.

Brown finished 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored for the Beavers, who are 4-2 on their homestand.

Memphis starter Blake Hawksworth (4-4) took the loss, allowing six runs (5 earned) on eight hits in six innings of work.

Stansberry’s second solo home run in two days gave the Beavers, who have homered in eight straight games, a 1-0 lead in the third.

Shane Robinson reached on a leadoff walk for Memphis in the fourth and stole second base before coming in to score on a single to right-center by Tyler Greene to even the score. Greene stole second and third before scoring on a groundout by Allen Craig, giving the Redbirds, who have lost four straight, a 2-1 lead.

A double steal by Brown and Huffman, who both singled, set the table for Alfonzo, whose RBI groundout knotted the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth.

The two teams meet in the third of their four-game series Wednesday morning at 11:05 a.m.

NOTES: Sean Kazmar’s hitting streak ended at 10 games … the Beavers have 31 grand slams in the nine seasons since their return to the PCL in 2001 … Alfonzo became just the second Portland catcher to hit a grand slam in nine seasons, the first since Pete Laforest, who set a PCL record with five in 2007 … Portland’s last six grand slams have come at PGE Park … Scott Patterson turned in two shutout innings of relief … earlier in the day, the Padres reinstated Silva, who was with Portland on a major league rehab assignment, from the disabled list and optioned him to Portland. Additionally, the Beavers released reliever Chris Britton.