FRESNO, Calif. — Ethan Holliday homered twice and the Fresno Grizzlies (23-15) jumped out early before holding off the Visalia Rawhide (13-25) for an 11-6 win Saturday night at Chukchansi Park.
Fresno wasted no time building a cushion against Visalia starter Jesus Escobar in the opening inning.
Ethan Holliday walked with two outs before Tanner Thach lined an RBI double to center field to bring him home.
Derek Bernard followed with an RBI single, Jack O’Dowd added a ground-rule double, Matt Klein walked and a balk brought Bernard home to make it 3-0.
Jeremy Ciriaco capped the five-run first inning with a two-run single into left field, scoring O’Dowd and Klein to give Fresno a 5-0 lead before Visalia could get out of the inning.
The Grizzlies added to the lead in the third when Holliday launched his eighth home run of the season, a solo shot to right field.
Two batters later, Bernard singled and stole second before Klein crushed a two-run homer to center, pushing Fresno ahead 8-0.
Visalia answered with a six-run fourth inning, highlighted by Carlos Virahonda’s solo homer and later a two-run double that cut Fresno’s lead to 8-6.
Brady Parker entered in relief during the inning and helped stop the rally before settling into one of his strongest outings of the season.
Parker worked 3.2 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out six to earn the win.
Fresno responded immediately in the bottom of the fourth when Cameron Nelson singled and Holliday blasted his second homer of the night, a two-run shot to center field that pushed the Grizzlies back in front by four.
Holliday finished 2-for-3 with two home runs, three RBIs, three runs scored and a walk. It was his first multi-homer game as a professional and gave him three homers over the last two games.
The Grizzlies continued to generate traffic throughout the lineup, finishing with 11 hits and going 4-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Bernard scored three times and reached base three times, while O’Dowd added two hits and Ciriaco drove in two.
Dylan Crooks entered in the eighth with two runners aboard and immediately induced an inning-ending double play. He then worked the ninth to secure his third save of the season.
The Grizzlies added one final insurance run in the eighth on Luis Mendez’s sacrifice fly, giving Fresno its final 11-6 margin.
Fresno has now won four straight games since Tuesday’s series-opening loss and remains in first place in the California League North.
The Grizzlies look for their first five win series on the Sunday series finale at 1:05pm. Austin Newton will make his second start of the week for Fresno against Samuel Gonzalez of Visalia.
ABOUT THE FRESNO GRIZZLIES
The Fresno Grizzlies are a proud affiliate of the Colorado Rockies organization. The club advanced to the California League playoffs in 2025 and continues to post some of Minor League Baseball’s highest attended games. The 2026 season marks the Grizzlies’ 25th year in Downtown Fresno.