MISSOULA – The Missoula Osprey might have kept their playoff hopes alive with three comebacks on Wednesday night. The Os stormed back to get a crucial walk-off win over the Billings Mustangs, 6-5, in 11 innings.
The win cuts the Mustangs’ lead in the North Division to 2.5 games over Missoula. The two teams will continue their series on Thursday and Friday, with only eight days remaining in the regular season.
Billings led 1-0 into the bottom of the seventh. A Jesus Munoz home run and Zach Almond RBI single put the Osprey on the board and gave them a 2-1 lead. The Mustangs’ Dylan Harris added a sac fly in the eighth to tie the game back up and send it to extra innings.
The offenses for both teams woke up in the 10th and 11th innings, thanks in part to the new rule that starts each extra inning with a runner on second base. Billings scored two in the top of the 10th to take a 4-2 lead. With the Osprey down to the final out, Brandon Leyton hit a two-run homer to left center to tie the game again.
Billings once again took the lead back in the top of the 11th on a sac fly by Carlos Rivero, but Missoula’s Alek Thomas hit a one-out double in the bottom of the 11th to tie the game. Two batters later, Buddy Kennedy ended the game with a walk-off, line-drive RBI single to left.
