What a relief! Rex win 5-4

Aug. 2—Long relief is about as thankless a job as a pitcher can have, but the Rex got two great performances in that role Monday night at Bob Warn Field.

A Prospect League baseball game crucial to the Rex's playoff hopes couldn't have started much worse Monday — four batters, four runs on the board for the visiting Chillicothe Paints — but late-season additions Tyce Ochs and Landon Carr slammed the door at that point and their teammates rallied to give the home team a 5-4 win.

And the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp, the team the Rex are chasing, lost 9-2 at home to the Alton River Dragons.

"It didn't start out too hot for us," manager Matt Chavarria said after the game. "But it always comes down to pitching . . . because we always have a chance with our offense. Nine innings, 27 outs? You play well and see what happens."

Aaron Chao walked the first two batters he faced Monday, and a force play at second base was nullified when the base umpire ruled that shortstop Parks Bouck had come off the bag taking a throw from second baseman Kody Putnam. Chao got an 0-and-2 count on cleanup hitter Mike Sprockett but couldn't finish him off, and on the 10th pitch of the at-bat Sprockett hit a grand slam homer. It was the only hit of the inning for the Paints, but after Chao issued three more two-out walks, Ochs was summoned from the bullpen.

"I was just there for damage control," Ochs said after the game. "I didn't really expect to throw today, but halfway through the first inning Chavvy asked me if I was ready . . . I just wanted to eat some innings to help our bullpen keep us in the game."

Ochs fanned leadoff batter Brett Carson to leave the bases loaded, and when the Rex halved the lead in the bottom of the inning on a two-out, two-run double dumped down the first-base line by Brandon Boxer, the game was interesting again.

The Rex left seven baserunners stranded the next three innings — second and third in the second inning, first and third in the third frame — but Alec Brunson did get an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth that cut the lead to 4-3 before he and two teammates were stranded. Ochs left after the top of the fifth, having allowed two hits but no walks and no other baserunners.

David Miller's one-out triple lost in the right-field sun went for naught in the bottom of the fifth, but Carr struck out the side in the top of the sixth on his way to four scoreless innings. Unfortunately for the Rex, Chillicothe's Nick Lallathin was also having a good relief outing and it was still 4-3 going into the bottom of the eighth.

Miller walked to lead off the inning and was sacrificed to second by Will Egger. With two out, Robert Ciulla — who had replaced Bouck after Bouck was injured fouling a ball off his foot — hit a long double to the right-field fence, and Brunson followed with his second RBI single.

Carr's ninth inning was eventful — a single, a balk, an error on a foul ball and a walk leading to two outs with runners at second and third — but he got a called third strike past Sprockett for the final out.

"Definitely my best outing so far," the recent Northview graduate said after his first win as a member of the Rex. "I haven't had command of my changeup this summer, but I've been throwing it on the sidelines and it was working. The movement on my two-seam fastball really helped too."

"Tyce has been a great addition to the team, and Landon Carr? The kid, we call him. To do that against a really good ballclub was really good," Chavarria said. "They kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win."

"We know we have to win some games and the Pistol Shrimp have to lose some," Ochs said when asked if the players were aware of the standings. "We've just got to do our part."

A crowd of 958 saw the next-to-last home date for the Rex, who host Danville in a 5 p.m. doubleheader on Friday.

CHILLICOTHE PAINTS (AB-R-H-RBI) — Carson cf 4-1-2-0, Wilson 3b 3-1-0-0, Passarelli ph 0-0-0-0, Orr 1b 5-1-0-0, Sprockett c 5-1-3-4, McAlister ss 4-0-0-0, Thamann rf 4-0-0-0, Dorinsky lf 2-0-0-0, Steele dh 3-0-0-0, Reifsnyder 2b 3-0-0-0. Totals 33-4-5-4.

REX (AB-R-H-RBI) — Bouck ss 3-1-1-0, Ciulla 3b 2-1-1-1, Brunson cf 5-0-2-2, Bueck rf 5-1-2-0, Hicks lf 3-0-1-0, Boxer 3b-2b 4-0-2-2, White 1b 4-0-0-0, Miller dh 3-1-1-0, Egger c 3-0-1-0, Putnam 2b-ss 4-1-1-0. Totals 36-5-12-5.

Chillicothe=400=000=000=—=4

Rex=200=100=12x=—=5

E — Putnam, McAlister, Reifsnyder, Ciulla. LOB — CP 9, Rex 10. 2B — Boxer, Ciulla. 3B — Miller. SB — Orr, Dorinsky, Passarelli. CS — Boxer. SH — Egger.

Chillicothe=IP=H=R=ER=BB=SO

Bangston=2=4=2=0=0=1

Lallathin (L)=5.2=7=3=2=1=5

Danford=0.1=1=0=0=0=1

Rex=IP=H=R=ER=BB=SO

Chao=0.2=1=4=4=5=1

Ochs=4.1=2=0=0=0=5

Carr (W)=4=2=0=0=2=6

HBP — by Lallathin (Hicks). WP — Carr. Bk — Carr. Att — 958.

Next — The Rex (15-10 in the second half) play Tuesday at Danville. Chillicothe (14-10) hosts West Virginia on Wednesday.