JOLIET, Ill. — The Gateway Grizzlies mustered only four hits Sunday afternoon and were swept for the first time this season with a 4-0 loss to the Joliet Slammers at Joliet Route 66 Stadium.
Artemis Kadkhodaian doubled in the fourth inning and was stranded at third; he was the only Grizzlie to reach scoring position. Gateway (14-20) has lost five of its last six games.
Joliet (16-16) pushed its winning streak to six straight games behind a masterful performance from righthander Liam O’Sullivan (3-2). O’Sullivan tossed a four-hit shutout, struck out four and walked two. He recorded all 27 outs on only 104 pitches.
Sunday marked the second shutout of O’Sullivan’s career — both have come against the Grizzlies. O’Sullivan’s first shutout was also a four-hitter; he struck out a dozen Grizzlies in August 2016. In 19 career innings against Gateway, O’Sullivan has a 0.00 ERA with eight hits allowed and 17 strikeouts.
Dalton Shalberg (1-2) took the loss. He worked 5 2/3 innings and allowed four runs (two earned) with four strikeouts. Patrick Boyle fired 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief.
Trae Santos had the only multi-hit game for the Grizzlies. After scoring 32 runs in a three-game series this week at home against Washington, the Grizzlies were held to only six runs in three games in Joliet and just one run over the final two games of the series.
Gateway is off Monday before opening a three-game series in O’Fallon, Missouri, against the River City Rascals on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.
