Chicago Dogs ninth inning magic secures a 4-2 win.

 

The Dogs took a short drive to Gary, Indiana, kicking off a three game series versus the Gary SouthShore RailCats.

 

On the bump for the Dogs in the opener was Steven Lacey, making his first start since June 15th. An anticipated short start for Lacey only lasted two innings, as Lacey allowed one run across ten batters faced.

 

With a lot of baseball left to play, the Dogs had to dig deep into the bullpen, utilizing four different pitchers. Lukas Galdoni, Cal Coughlin, Cal Djuraskovic and Joey Marciano combined to throw seven innings, giving up just one run on three hits.

 

Although pitching was strong, bats couldn’t find any luck until the late innings for the Dogs.

 

The Dogs offense was shut out until the seventh inning, where Zion Pettigrew blasted his third home run of the season, cutting Gary’s lead to just one run.

 

With two outs and bases loaded in the ninth inning, the Dogs had an opportunity to erase the team’s one run deficit.

 

Johnni Turbo did just that, smacking a single to right field, driving in two runs, giving the Dogs its first lead of the game.

 

The next at-bat, Dusty Stroup extended the Dogs lead, hitting a single to the pitcher, scoring another run.

 

With a two run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, the ball was handed to Marciano to slam the door. Marciano went three-up, three-down, sealing the Dogs win in the series opener.

 

Marciano’s work earned him his 15th save of the season.

 

A quick turnaround, as the two teams will go back to it for an afternoon game at the U.S. Steel Yard.