Linden Leads River Cats to Win Over Portland

Gregorio Petit was 3-for-4 with a double for the River Cats, who have out-scored the Beavers 15-4 over the last two games.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

PORTLAND, Ore. - Todd Linden was 3-for-5 with a home run and a pair of RBI doubles, and Danny Putman hit his second home run of the series as the Sacramento River Cats defeated the Portland Beavers 8-3 Wednesday night at PGE Park.

The River Cats (3-3) busted open a tie game with five third-inning runs and never looked back, getting to .500 for the first time this year.

Gregorio Petit was 3-for-4 with a double for the River Cats, who have out-scored the Beavers 15-4 over the last two games to take a 2-1 lead in the series, which wraps up Thursday night at PGE Park in a 7:05 p.m. start.

Kirk Saarloos (2-0) was strong in his third career appearance against the Beavers, allowing two runs, seven hits and one walk while striking out four over six innings for the victory, his second of the young season.

Linden, a veteran who has spent parts of the last seven seasons in the Pacific Coast League, triggered the third-inning rally with his second RBI double. Brooks Conrad followed with an RBI single and Putnam lofted a three-run homer – his second clout in as many nights – giving the River Cats (3-3) a 6-1 lead.

Nick Hundley and Luis Rodriguez hit solo home runs for the Beavers (3-3), who have lost three of their last four games after a 2-0 start. Will Venable, Matt Antonelli and Jody Gerut each added two hits in the loss.

Linden’s first home run of the season – a two-run blast with Carlos Gonzalez aboard – extended Sacramento’s advantage to 8-1 in the fourth.

In stark contrast to his superb outing against Fresno in the season opener at PGE Park on Thursday, Portland starter Josh Geer struggled to contain the River Cats. In 3 2/3 innings of work in his third career Triple-A start, Geer yielded eight runs and 10 hits for the loss.

Dirk Hayhurst came on in relief of Geer and struck out seven with just one hit allowed over 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

After Casey Rogowski singled to left in the top of the first, Linden, who finished with four RBIs, laced a two-out, opposite-field double off the wall in left field to give the River Cats an early one-run lead.

The Beavers tied it in the bottom of the second when Gerut doubled and scored on an RBI single from Edgar Gonzalez, who has a four-game hitting streak to start the season.

Source: Portland Beavers

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