Chukars lose another one-run game

Ben Theriot

The Idaho Falls Chukars wrapped up its six-game road trip Saturday with what else but a one-run game.

The Chukars came out on the wrong side with a 4-3 loss at Ogden in its fifth one-run game of the trip and fourth one-run loss. The sixth game of the road trip was a two-run win in Orem and all three games in Ogden finished with a 4-3 final.

“It was a tough series,” Chukars manager Darryl Kennedy said. “All three games were close. They could have gone either way. We could have swept and they could have swept us.”

While two of the losses on the road trip came directly from errors that lead to unearned, winning runs, the Chukars defense shined Saturday.

Allen Caldwell

With Ogden leading 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth and loading the bases with nobody out, right fielder Allen Caldwell did his best Carlo Testa impression. He caught a fly ball for the first off and then threw home to nail Ogden’s Brian Cavazos-Galvez trying to score on a sacrifice fly. Catcher Ben Theriot held onto the throw as Cavazos-Galvez plowed into him.

“That was real big,” Theriot said. “It was a perfect throw. It definitely put some momentum on our side.”

The throw was eerily similar to Testa throwing out a runner at the plate Friday night to preserve a one-run win.

Instead of a big inning for the Ogden, the league’s No. 1 offense, the Chukars stayed in the game trailing 1-0.

Caldwell doubled in the sixth to bring home Angel Franco and give Idaho Falls a 2-1 lead, but the wildness of its pitcher eventually caught up to the Chukars.

A Santiago Garrido four-pitch leadoff walk in the sixth turned out to be the tying run at 2-2 and a Ryan Morgan leadoff walk came around to score the game-winning run in the seventh.

But despite his team’s 2-4 record to start the second half, Kennedy is pleased with the way his team is playing.

“I know some think it’s hard to believe when you’re 2-4 that you’re playing good baseball,” Kennedy said. “But we played three outstanding ball games in Ogden. We’ve just got to keep playing the way we’ve playing the last three and take it to the next team.”

The Chukars are off Sunday before hosting a four-game series against Billings starting Monday.