PAPILLION, NEB. – The Omaha Storm Chasers (25-28) played into extras but fell 5-4 in the 10th inning to the Memphis Redbirds (33-21) on Thursday night. Storm Chasers reliever Oscar Rayo worked 3.0 scoreless innings of relief in his Triple-A debut, but Omaha’s offense couldn’t give him the support needed for the win.
Storm Chasers starter Henry Williams retired the first 8 batters he saw from the 1st inning through the 3rd, and he worked around a two-out single in the 3rd inning to keep the game scoreless.
The Storm Chasers opened the scoring in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Kameron Misner hit a sacrifice fly, but the Redbirds hit a pair of solo home runs off Williams in the top of the 4th inning to pull ahead 2-1.
Abraham Toro tied the game in the bottom of the 4th inning on an RBI double, but Memphis responded with a run-scoring triple and fielder’s choice in the top of the 5th inning to take a 4-2 lead.
Omaha tied the game again in the bottom of the 5th inning when Luca Tresh hit a 2-run home run to make it 4-4, then Andrew Pérez came into the game for Williams and delivered a scoreless top of the 6th inning.
Rayo made his Triple-A debut by facing the minimum in the top of the 7th inning, then navigated a pair of walks to keep the Redbirds off the board in the 8th inning.
Rayo fired a third straight hitless inning in the top of the 9th, but Omaha went down 1-2-3 in the bottom half to send the game to extras.
In the top of the 10th inning, Anthony Gose (1-1) took the mound and allowed a sacrifice fly to give the Redbirds a 5-4 lead, but all 3 Storm Chasers hitters struck out in the bottom of the frame to finish the game.
The Redbirds return to Werner Park to rematch the Storm Chasers for Game 4 of the series Friday evening and first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 P.M. CT.