Newark pushes Vancouver to the brink

The Sugar Bears won the crucial game 5 yesterday in Newark 6-3. Randy Johnson shut down the Iron Fist offense for 5 innings, allowing only 1 earned run on 6 hits and striking out 9. The Sugar Bears jumped out to an early 2-0 lead when Carlos Guillen hit a single with the bases loaded in the first. Vancouver scored a run in the 2nd on a Todd Helton single, then tied it up in the 3rd on a Moises Alou double. Bobby Abreu gave the Sugar Bears the lead with an RBI-double in the 4th and Guillen extended the lead with a 2-run homer in the 5th. David Ortiz homered in the 8th to make it 5-3, but Newark got the run back in the bottom of the inning. Brian Shouse made it interesting in the 9th by walking the first two batters, but they were left stranded. The teams are off today, returning to Vancouver tomorrow.