(Gary, IN) In game one of the series the Gary SouthShore RailCats torched the Chicago Dogs pitching by scoring a franchise-high 25 runs on 25 hits with Kevin Watson Jr hitting for the cycle. The Dogs returned to The Steel Yard for the second game and pitched former RailCat, Andres Diaz. Peyton Long had his turn in the rotation to pitch and the ‘Cats attempted to chip away at the Railroaders 5.5 game lead in the playoff race.  

Long and Diaz were scoreless until the bottom of the third inning. Korry Howell with two outs got a fastball up-and-away and blasted it into the bullpen for a solo home run. Two more runs scored in the fourth one on a long ball this time from Marc Flores, who hit the ball passed the bullpens and Joe Suozzi got a ball to bleed through to score Elvis Peralta. ‘Cats led 3-0. 

In the bottom of the fifth with two outs Watson got a single and Marc Flores doubled down the right field line to bring in Watson. Peyton Long would go six scoreless and gave up his first run on a sacrifice fly from Giovani DiGiacomo to cut the RailCats lead to three. 

In the bottom of the seventh, Nick Podkul got the run back as he smashed a hit into left and it gave Podkul his team-leading 50 RBIs. In the bottom of the eighth inning Korry Howell landed the knockout blow when he hit his second home run of the game and his fifteenth of the year scoring three-runs and the RailCats would win their second in a row by a final of 8-1. 

The RailCats are 34-48 and with a Lake Country DockHounds win they are 4.5 games back of the Railroaders. The Dogs fall to 27-56 and the RailCats will be going for the sweep in the final game of the first leg of the series. Brendan Roberts will take the hill for the Dogs and the RailCats will trot out Deyni Olivero, first pitch is scheduled for 6:45. 

Tickets are available on Tixr.com/RailCats or fans can call the park at 219-882-2255. A free live broadcast of the game will be available on AABaseball.TV.