LONGVIEW — During their 13- game winning streak, Friday’s game against the Cowlitz Black Bears was the type of game that the Ridgefield Raptors would find a way to win.
Amid their current losing streak, the Raptors found a way to lose Friday night at David Story Field.
A bevy of 90-foot gifts by the Raptors fueled Cowlitz’s rally from a five-run deficit to beat Ridgefield 6-5 on Friday, extending the Raptors’ current skid to four games.
For six-plus innings Friday, the Raptors looked as if they would right the ship after being swept by the Corvallis Knights.
Pitcher Isaiah Magdeleno was again stellar on the mound, pitching five scoreless innings as the Raptors built a 5-0 lead.
But after the seventh-inning stretch, things began to turn on Ridgefield.
A single and a Raptor error got the Black Bears going in the bottom of the seventh, and Ben Adams’ RBI single got the Black Bears on the board.
A run-scoring groundout and a sacrifice fly completed a three-run seventh for Cowlitz.
After the Raptors left the bases loaded in the top of the eighth, Bronson Neave walked to open the bottom of the eighth for Cowlitz.
Neave stole second and later took third on a passed ball. Jonathan Mendez’s RBI single brought him home, getting Cowlitz within 5-4.
An errant pickoff throw allowed Mendez to second and a passed ball got him over to third.
After Ridgefield pitcher Drew Townson got a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Zach Todd was summoned from the bullpen to get the third out.
Todd worked the count to 1-2 on Sam Canton, but a wild pitch allowed Mendez to race home with the tying run.
Now there were two outs and no runners on base. But the Black Bears weren’t done yet.
Canton eventually worked a walk. Adams also walked, putting runners on first and second.
Once again, Todd worked the count 1-2 on Dylan Schlaegel, but the Cowlitz leadoff then hit a liner to left that bounced over the short fence for a ground-rule double that put the Black Bears in the lead for the first time all night.
Michael LeJeune got the final three outs in the top of the ninth for the win.
Three moments
Three-run Raptor fifth — The Raptors loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth, but looked as if they might not score after two outs did not advance a runner. Luke Iverson’s walk scored one run, and Justin Stransky’s single plated two more for a three-run rally that put Ridgefield up 4-0.
Good coaching — Ridgefield pitcher Hiroyuki Yamada found himself in a jam with two on and one out in the bottom of the sixth. Raptors manager Chris Cota went out for a mound visit. Two pitchers later, Yamada got Shea Bowen to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Almost game-ending double play — With Stransky on first and one out in the ninth, Ryder Cutlip hit a lower liner to shortstop which Cowlitz’s Mendez gloved, then dropped intentionally. Mendez picked up the ball to complete an apparent game-ending double play. But as the Black Bears players started to spill out of the dugout in celebration, the home-plate umpire ruled that Mendez made the catch, so there was no double play. LeJeune got the third out on the next batter.
Three players
Dasan Harris — The Raptors center fielder drew four walks, but only scored once.
Isaiah Magdaleno — The Raptors starting pitcher, who is fresh off being named the West Coast League pitcher of the week for last week, threw five shutout innings, allowing just three hits.
Ben Adams — The Cowlitz catcher, from the No. 9 spot in the order, went 2 for 3 with a run, double and RBI.
Three numbers
23 — The number of consecutive scoreless innings thrown by Isaiah Magdaleno.
4 — The total number of hits the Black Bears collected in scoring sixth run to rally from a 5-0 deficit in the seventh and eighth innings.
3-2 — The Raptors’ edge in the battle for the Columbia Cup, which goes to the winner of the season series between Ridgefield and Cowlitz.
BOX SCORE
WEST COAST LEAGUE STANDINGS
