Sinisi, Antonelli highlight Beavers 8-4 victory

This is a press release courtesy of the Portland Beavers

Vincent Sinisi and Matt Antonelli each drove in two runs and Brian Lawrence pitched six strong innings as the Portland Beavers defeated the Tacoma Rainiers 8-4 Friday night at Cheney Stadium.

Sinisi finished 2-for-4, including a two-run double, and scored a pair of runs, Antonelli added a two-run triple, and four others each added an RBI for the Beavers (38-44).

Brian Lawrence (2-1) gave up three early runs, but retired 10 straight batters in the middle innings to earn his first road win as a Beaver. The righthander allowed four runs on seven hits over six innings.

Brad Nelson collected two hits, a home run and a pair of RBIs, Bryan LaHair added a homer and Chris Shelton had an RBI for the Rainiers (38-43).

Jose Lobaton and Sean Kazmar put the Beavers up 2-0 with back-to-back RBI doubles as Portland capitalized on a Rainiers error in the second inning.

Tacoma tied the game in the bottom of the frame on solo homers by LaHair and Nelson.

Sinisi followed Chad Huffman’s single with a two-run double as the Beavers rallied with two outs in the third to retake the lead, 4-2.

Callix Crabbe walked to lead off the fourth, advanced to third on a single and then scored on an RBI sacrifice fly by Shelton.

Portland increased their lead to 5-3 in the sixth on an RBI double by Peter Ciofrone.

Adam Moore scored all the way from first on a hard-hit double by Nelson, bringing the Rainiers to within a run in the sixth.

The Beavers secured the win in the ninth on a two-run triple by Antonelli and an RBI groundout by Mike Baxter.

Rainiers starter Andy Baldwin (5-6) took the loss after yielding five runs (3 earned) on six hits in eight innings.

Eulogio De La Cruz (4) pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings to garner his fourth save of the season.

The Beavers return home to open a four-game series against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, beginning on July 4. First pitch is 7:05 p.m. (Pacific) 

NOTES: The Beavers have won the final game to avoid a series sweep six times, including twice against Tacoma … Portland has not homered in five straight games, their longest drought of the season.