After losing for the first time in 23 months on Monday, the Red Deer Riggers made sure they did not make it two losses in two days on Tuesday in Sunburst Baseball League action.
The Riggers edged the St. Albert Tigers 3-2 at Great Chief Park, leaning on a terrific relief performance from Wyle Cunningham and timely hitting from Jaret Chatwood en rout to victory.
“We weren’t panicked by any means, but we were maybe a little too laid back tonight at times, but we got the hits when we needed to an strung a few things together,” said Riggers player manager Curtis Bailey.
Cunningham was almost untouchable, striking out seven and allowing just one walk in 4 1/2 innings for the win. He came in after the veteran Davin Gulbransen gave up two runs on three hits and four walks with one strikeout through 4 2/3 innings.
The southpaw Cunningham has been red hot for the Riggers of late, coming off a nine strikeouts in five innings performance in a 6-4 win over the Parkland White Sox in Spruce Grove on Friday.
“He’s got good command of his pitches, good location,” said Bailey. “He works quick, he works fast, he’s real efficient, he’s thrown real well for us this year.”
Chatwood had three hits for the Riggers, including a two-out triple that opened the scoring in the third inning, cashing in Mark Fay from third. Chatwood scored on the next at-bat as Josh Edwards’ hit was bobbled by the Tigers second baseman.
Chatwood came through again in the bottom of the seventh with two out and runners on first and second, he blooped a fly into shallow centre, but with Fay running on contact, he scored easily from second base.
Craig Thomas was solid for the Tigers, going seven innings and allowing three runs, two earned on nine hits and one walk while striking out three. Thomas was picked up last year by the Riggers for the national championship tournament.
The Riggers 6-5 loss to the Confederation Park Cubs on Monday in Edmonton marked the first time the Riggers had put a mark in L category during the regular season was July 9, 2013, a 5-4 loss to the Fort Saskatchewan Athletics.
But Bailey was confident his team would find a way to get a win on Tuesday.
“We looked at it as ‘we lost the game, let’s move on, what do we have to change it,’” he said.
“It starts with before the game preparations. During the game, what are we doing to make sure we are making good plays. We were a little better tonight at being more focused than we were last night.
“As long as we’re moving forward, we’ll be a better team for it.”
The Riggers are now off until June 16 when they host the Cubs at 7:30 p.m. at Great Chief Park.