The River Cats were sailing along on this eight-game homestand. As winners of the first five, things seemed to be on cruise control. But this is the Pacific Coast League, where anything can happen — and quite frequently does. The Nashville Sounds came to town for a four-game stop and, after losing the first contest, found their stride and took the next game from Sacramento. On Tuesday evening the Cats would lose their second game in a row to the Sounds 5-4 on a wild pitch by Merkin Valdez in the top of the ninth inning. On Wednesday afternoon, the River Cats were looking to end their small two-game losing streak, and did so when Daric Barton was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in t

With rumors swirling that Cats phenom pitcher Dan Straily would be called up to the big club at any moment, Tyson Ross got the call to replace Straily in the starting lineup for Thursday’s tilt against the Memphis Redbirds. With nearly the same type of clutch hitting as the night before, Ross’s fine performance and solid relief from James Timmons, Pedro Figueroa and Rich Thompson out of the bullpen, the Sacramento River Cats beat the visiting Redbirds 4-3 in front of 8,762 faithful in another exciting contest at Raley Field. Even though it was the late clutch hitting of the Cats that helped pull out the victory, Cats manager Darren Bush couldn’t let the performance of his starter go unno

To say the Oakland A’s have an eye for pitching talent and like to have lots of live arms is like telling a 35-year-old that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. Duh! Graham Godfrey is one of those live arms that for one reason or another hasn’t been able to find his mark when called up for duty. Godfrey thinks he may have found what ailed him over his last few starts, when his earned run average skyrocketed from 1.21 on June 15 to 3.29 prior to the game on Wednesday evening. “I’ve been battling an injury and you can kind of notice the dip in my numbers,” said Godfrey. “It was something I was trying to pitch through, but I just needed some time off. I was able to rehab it and get it strong again

The Sacramento River Cats extended their winning streak to three with a 6-1 victory over the Colorado Springs Sky Sox at Raley Field Thursday night. Starting pitcher Bruce Billings gave the River Cats another solid outing to bring his record to 2-1 with a 3.05 ERA. He provided seven innings of work, giving up no runs on five hits and striking out six. Sacramento was able to pounce on Sky Sox starting pitcher Brandon Hynick early, giving Billings two-run support in the first inning. Outfielder Jermaine Mitchell started the inning with a triple to deep center field. Mitchell then scored on a double from Collin Cowgill to give the River Cats their first lead of the game. First baseman Chri

Third baseman Josh Donaldson led the River Cats to a 7-1 victory against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox at Raley Field Tuesday night. Donaldson finished the game 3-4 and a walk, including a two-run double that gave the Cats the lead in the fifth inning. Donaldson finished the game with three runs batted in. Sacramento starting pitcher Graham Godfrey had another solid outing as he pitched six innings and struck out five batters while giving up six hits and one unearned run. Colorado’s only run came in the second inning when shortstop Brendan Harris reached base on an error by River Cats shortstop Adam Rosales. Harris then reached third on a hit-and-run play with right fielder Hernan Iribar

The Sacramento River Cats pounced all over the Tucson Padres to win 11-3 at Raley Field Sunday afternoon. The win earns the River Cats a split of the series, as they won the first and final games and the Padres won the two in between. It didn’t take long for the River Cats bats to come alive, quickly scoring two runs off of Padres starting pitcher Mark Pope. But the Cats weren’t done there. Sacramento was able to tally on another five runs in the second inning to bring the lead to 7-0. The five-run frame featured a three-run home run from catcher Josh Donaldson with two outs. It was Donaldson’s second home run of the season. Starting pitcher Brad Peacock was able to keep the Padres off

As the grass gets greener and the sun starts to shine more often, the question for some players in the Oakland A’s system is - which team will they be starting the season with, the Oakland A’s or their Triple-A affiliate, the Sacramento River Cats? Some players, like Jemile Weeks, suited up in the maroon and grey of the Cats for most of last year until getting the call to don the Kelly green and gold of the Athletics late in the season. For Weeks, it’s a comfortable feeling knowing that a good portion of the River Cats players he spent most of the last couple of years with had a chance to make this year’s big club. “It’s great, I love it,” Weeks said. “These are guys I played with in th

With everything they’ve worked for the entire season on the line, the Sacramento River Cats found themselves down 0-2 after two games of the first round of the Pacific Coast League Playoffs. After losing the first two games in Reno, 7-4 and 4-2, the Cats force a fourth game after beating the Reno Aces 5-2 at Raley Field on Friday evening and keep the best-of-five series alive. That’s good news for the team with the best record in the regular season. Josh Donaldson, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI, knew that it was just a matter of time before the offense woke up. “It’s something that we really haven’t been tested all year because we had such a big league all year”, said Donaldson as he l

It was the last regular season game of the year. A chance for the team to thank the fans for being such great guests all year long and an equal chance for the River Cats diehards to cheer one last time during a great campaign. From the Sacramento players greeting loyal guests at every entrance to Raley Field to the pre-game fireworks booming from center field to the River Cats own regular season player awards - all of it took place before the contest in front of the fifth sellout of the year - 14,014 roaring fans. Everything fell into place on Thursday evening for the Cats to win their last home game of the regular season 7-1 against the Las Vegas 51’s. The game started out as a pitcher

The Sacramento River Cats won their sixth game in a row, defeating the Las Vegas 51s by a final score of 4-3 on Wednesday night at Raley Field. Las Vegas got on the scoreboard first when starting right fielder Adam Loewen doubled to left field and scored shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, who was on second base after a single and a walk to Jayson Nix. It didn’t take long for the River Cats to respond and get on the scoreboard as well. Jai Miller hit his 31st homer of the season to lead off the second inning and give the River Cats their first run. Then with designated hitter Josh Donaldson on second, center fielder Jermaine Mitchell doubled to score Donaldson. Wes Timmons came up to bat next,

  Having already clinched the Pacific Coast League Pacific South division, the Sacramento River Cats won their fifth game in a row. A crowd of 10,638 fans at Raley Field watched the hometown team defeat the Las Vegas 51s 5-1. The Cats have now won 13 of their last 16 games. The first three innings were scoreless. Las Vegas threatened in the first inning with a single and a walk, but the rally ended when Adam Loewen struck out for the third out with men on first and second. The River Cats started off weak in the first inning as Jermaine Mitchell and Adrian Cardenas grounded out and Wes Timmons struck out. Tyson Ross settled down and began taking control of the situation as he put Las

When you think about it, Graham Godfrey’s path was not on the fast track. In fact, for a guy that started the season with Double-A Midland, where he is today is a huge leap in the right direction. As Godfrey told me earlier this year, it was just one small mechanical thing he changed and voila, a steady, dominating pitcher was born. With Godfrey pitching nearly lights out, the Sacramento River Cats stayed on the winning side of things with a 7-3 victory over the Albuquerque Isotopes at Raley Field on Tuesday evening in front of 10,016 happy fans. The win gives him a league tying 12 and he’s only two away from tying the Sacramento franchise record of 14. What would that accomplishment

On a night that had the Sacramento River Cats thinking about grounding up Round Rock Express pitcher Mark Hamburger, the first time starter was serving up filet mignon as he blanked Sacramento in his four innings of work to help the Express beat the Cats 7-3 at Raley Field on Friday evening. For the home team, Josh Outman started to slip a little in the second when the hitters for Round Rock started taking him up the middle with several solid hits. After Val Majewski and Joey Butler had back-to-back singles, Matt Kata hit into what looked like a tailor-made double play. Cats second baseman Andy LaRoche’s throw was offline and pulled Brandon Allen off the bag. With two men on, one of the

The Sacramento River Cats held their winning streak against the Reno Aces, killing with a final score of 10-1. With a turnout of 9,342 fans for the last of the five-game set, the I-80 rivals started off with an easy three-up, three-down and no on-bases for the first three innings. The first excitement of the night happened when River Cats left fielder Michael Taylor walked, making it the first on-base of the evening, but Aces turned around and scored the last out of the third inning by throwing Cats first baseman, Anthony Recker, out at first. The fourth inning was when things got intense. Aces right fielder Cole Gillespie made the first earned base, hitting the ball foul along the fir

This was one to remember. On a beautiful afternoon at Raley Field on Saturday, one rare occurrence seemed to open the door for several more as the day went on and the Sacramento River Cats split a rare double header against their bitter rivals, the Reno Aces. The Aces won the first contest 3-2 and the Cats won the nightcap 5-4 in a game that had just about everything but the proverbial kitchen sink. How about both managers being ejected during the same at-bat, a foul ball that found it’s way into the press box, a guy being about a foot short of hitting for the cycle and a walk-off homer run all occurring during the crazy second game? We'll save that for later.  How about the first game

Jemile a minute: Sacramento lead-off hitter continued his hot hitting in Sunday’s doubleheader, going 3-for-4 with a run scored in Game 1 and 1-for-3 with an RBI in Game 2. The second baseman has perhaps been the River Cats’ most consistent offensive force all season, hitting .333 in April (25-for-75) and May (28-for-84). Weeks is currently riding a seven-game hitting streak, during which he is 12-for-31 (.387) with seven runs and five RBIs. Weeks started the season by reaching base in 26 consecutive games. He has failed to reach base only twice in 37 games started this season. The 5-foot-9, 160-pounder is tied for the team lead with three triples, eight stolen bases and a .425 on-base per

The Sacramento River Cats played a memorable game Thursday night at Raley Field with two home runs and no runs from the New Orleans Zephyrs until the fifth inning. Despite losing the first game of the series against the Zephyrs on May 23, it was the third win for the River Cats this week. Michael Taylor (LF) scored his first home run of the season during the second inning and Josh Donaldson (C) hit one in the bottom of the seventh. With 6,111 people in attendance, the crowd had high energy and enthusiasm, with children yelling “Dinger! Dinger!” and KISS fans singing “I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night.” There were several mistakes made by the Zephyrs that kept the River Cats in the lead t

The Sacramento River Cats (28-16) defeated Oklahoma City (20-23) 11-2 on Sunday afternoon at Raley Field to earn a series split after dropping the first two games to the RedHawks. After RedHawks starting LHP Ryan Rowland-Smith (2-3, 5.23) issued consecutive walks to Jemile Weeks and Aaron Sogard in the bottom of the first, the River Cats offense set the tone when Michael Taylor tied the game at 1-1 with an RBI single to center field that scored Weeks. After advancing to third base on Taylor’s single, Aaron Sogard scored on the next at bat when Josh Donaldson hit a sacrifice ground-out to put Sacramento up 2-1. Rowland-Smith then walked DH Anthony Recker and Taylor swiped his third steal o

The Sacramento Rivercats (27-16) defeated the Oklahoma City RedHawks (19-23) 3-2 on Saturday night at Raley Field in what was the longest game in team history. Rivercats shortstop Eric Sogard ended the 5-hour, 4-minute bout in the wee morning hours of his 25th birthday with an RBI single in the bottom of the 16th inning. The game lasted just one minute longer than what is now Sacramento’s second longest game. The 16 inning contest also tied the team’s record for the most innings played in a single game. In the bottom of the second, Sacramento catcher Anthony Recker hit a towering solo home run that bounced off the club house wall in left field to notch the only run the Rivercats would sc

Wes Timmons just wants to play ball. That is, with God’s blessing, of course. Timmons had a conversation with his wife before Sunday’s Mother’s Day contest at Raley Field and thinks he may have figured it out. After Saturday night’s game Timmons felt horrible. He told his wife Jennifer that he feels like he hasn’t been in the batter’s box for a year rather than the three weeks it’s been. She then told him what he already knew. “You need to check yourself and get back in the word and trust in God,” said Jennifer. So, after his pre-game one-on-one with the man upstairs, a rejuvenated Timmons promptly hit the field and went 3-4 with an RBI, helping the Sacramento River Cats beat the hot-hi