Raptors V Jacks Game 5

Ogden, UT

The Raptors pushed the streak to two straight games in tonight's ballgame, with some late inning magic at hand from the lineup and back end bullpen arms. It all started with a phenomenal bounceback performance from Chris Macca in his ninth start on the bump this year, and after giving up a run in the first frame, it became grind time for Macca as he sliced his way through a red hot jackalopes lineup. Tossing six strong innings, only allowing one run on five hits, striking out two and walking four batters. While he lost the handle on the mound from time to time, more importantly he tightened up when it mattered most and consistently left runners stranded on the basepaths throughout his whole start. Macca’s six solid innings of work set up the bullpen to go out and back his performance up, with Shane Gustafson, Chris Griffin, and Dylan Matsuoka all dealing scoreless frames of their own, striking out five between the three of them. Nobody out of the bullpen issued a walk which promptly took the energy from the Jackalopes lineup and prevented them from getting across in the score column the last eight innings of the ballgame. Pitchers throwing strikes and keeping runners stuck on the basepaths plus some seriously clutch swings in the bottom half of the seventh saw the Raptors hard work and grinding from behind pay off in the form of 3 unanswered runs and a game five victory. Making it two in a row, and moving their second half record to just three games below .500 at 7-10. The Raptors are looking to make it three straight and to take the series win 4-2, starting tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 pm in the sixth and final game of the homestand.