Under a heat warning, the Royals and Athletics faced off at Andy Zwack field. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

By Trevor Redden

Near Comeback

Royals run out of gas against A’s

Jul 31, 2020 | 12:00 PM

A late inning comeback bid fell just short for the Prince Albert Royals in the second half of a home-and-home set with the Saskatoon Athletics at Andy Zwack field Thursday night.

After jumping out to a 2-1 lead after the first inning thanks to a sacrifice fly by Dawson Paterson and a fielder’s choice RBI by Nic Nye, the Athletics caught fire in the middle innings.

The Athletics scored two runs in the third, two in the fourth, and three in the fifth inning to build a seemingly insurmountable 8-2 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Royals went three up, three down to make things look even more bleak, but a tidy sixth inning pitched by Lukas Robin saw the Athletics go down in order, leaving the Royals nine outs to make something happen.

A lead-off walk followed by a steal of second by Nye got things rolling, and he would then be cashed in on a sacrifice fly by Nathan Gay. With two outs, the Royals rallied for another run as Dylan Krip was batted in by Ben Lefebvre, making it an 8-4 margin after six.

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The Athletics had an impressive day offensively, with 16 players reaching base. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

In the seventh and final inning, Robin kept the Athletics off the board to give the Royals one more chance to tie the game.

After getting on base with a lead-off single, Josh LaClaire was batted in by Paterson to bring the margin to three runs. Then with two outs, Paterson scored on a strike three wild pitch to bring the Royals to six runs, but on the same play Griffen Norton-Tibbs was unable to beat the throw to first and Saskatoon held on for victory.

Laclaire led the Royals at the plate with three hits on four at bats. Four different players had an RBI each.

On the mound, Nye threw 91 pitches over 4.1 innings, and Robin came in for the final 2.2, allowing just two hits.

The 2-10 Royals have the long weekend off, and will host the undefeated Saskatoon Blue Jays on Wednesday.

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trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden