De La Cruz Cruised and NoCo Held On for Second-Straight Win

GREELEY, Colo. -- The meat station at Friday's buffet served horse, and Kida De La Cruz carved it right up.

His brilliance on the bump frontloaded a fine pitching performance overall, even though things got dicey at the end. Thanks to some late insurance, NoCo (4-4) held on to beat Billings (4-5) and collect consecutive dubs.

De La Cruz (W, 2-4) provided probably his best stuff of the season so far. After allowing a ground-rule double in the game's very first at-bat, the starter settled in to retire 14 of the next 15 batters. Eight of those retirees went down on strikes. The only other baserunner reached by way of a wild throw. 

A microcosm of De La Cruz's day: after falling behind in a third-inning 3-0 count against Jordan Hovey, he threw gas past Hovey's green-light swing. A confident curveball dropped right in for strike two. He went back to the smokeball for strike three, emphatically fanning his fourth batter of the ballgame.

Or, we could look at an at-bat against Andrew Fernandez two innings later. First pitch, Fernandez nearly launched his second homer in as any games. It went foul by a few feet, just a loud strike. What spoke volumes was the fact De La Cruz struck back with that strikeout stuff. 

The birds with the bats rewarded the righty's efforts starting in the third. Tim Bouchard reached on a fielder's choice, Kevin Higgins hammered a liner right back up the middle, and Matt Turner tripled to scored them both. That three-bagger became the Broomfield native's fifth extra-base hit as an Owl.

It put his team up 2-0, and De La Cruz kept cruising with the lead. The crafty Floridian found four-straight strikeouts between the fourth and fifth frames. If not for a 35-minute (lack of) lightning delay, De La Cruz likely would've extended his evening. But coming out of the hiatus, the Owlz opted for the bullpen instead.

By that time, De La Cruz contributed his best outing yet: no walks, just that one game-opening hit allowed, and eight strikeouts to his name. That K count is his personal season high.

Euro Diaz dumped a single to left center that scored another run right after the delay. The hot-hitting Houston native made the lead 3-0 with that ribbie.

Isaiah Ramos replaced De La Cruz with that lead, and he pitched a pristine inning for the second-straight night. Kyle Adkins appeared after that, and he did even better. Just marginally, though. Ramos allowed one hit and one walk. Adkins went three-up, three-down. Both bought themselves another scoreless inning.

The Mustangs made a push when Chance Benton came on. Two solo shots sudenly shrunk the lead.

Not for long, though. Brandon Crosby, a game removed from his historic cycle, delivered a double with the bases loaded to tack on two more insurance runs. Over the last two games, Crosby is 7-for-9 with five RBI.

When Alex Jackson raced home and beat out a wild pitch, the Owlz took a 6-2 lead into the ninth. 

And they needed it.

That's when Christian Griffin entered the game. After consecutive singles and the first home run he's given up all season, the Mustangs made it a one-run game. But Griffin grooved two-straight strikeouts and induced the game-ending groundout to preserve the win. 

Though he couldn't earn the save on Friday, the closer still owns six saves this season. The NoCo closer is tied for the second-highest save total in the league. 

So, after a tough Tuesday, the Owlz have strung together two tidy outings to reach the .500 mark in the season's second half. 

They'll look to make it a trend with the twin-bill coming on Saturday. The first game is set to start at 1:05 p.m. The second one will start about 30 minutes after that first game ends. 

See you back at Jackson Field for Saturday's showdowns!