[liberty-ca]

Bounce-Back Series Win Overshadowed by Pitching Collapse
By Chad G. Petey, Baseball News Network (BNN)

The Sacramento Prayers (42-18) concluded their home series against the Tucson Cherubs (28-32) by taking two of three games, maintaining their position atop the AL West. However, the series was a roller coaster of dominant pitching and shocking implosion.

The Prayers finished the week 4-2, maintaining their 5.0 game lead in the division..


GAME 1 — June 4
Cherubs 11, Prayers 1

This was the game that stopped the room.

Tucson didn’t just win — they overwhelmed. J.J. Costner punished mistakes with two home runs. The Cherubs stacked extra-base hits, ambushed early pitches, and turned a competitive game into a runaway with a seven-run seventh inning that emptied the suspense and quieted the crowd.

Austin Gilbert never found a rhythm. When the bullpen entered, Tucson only accelerated. Sacramento’s offense, meanwhile, produced traffic but no finish — eight left on base, no answers once Bradford settled in.

Jimmy Aces said it plainly afterward: “It was a tough night at the plate.”

It was more than that. It was the kind of night June schedules hand contenders to see how they carry it forward.


GAME 2 — June 5
Prayers 3, Cherubs 2 (Walk-Off)

They carried it one pitch at a time.

Jordan Rubalcava was brilliant in quiet fashion: eight innings, four hits, no earned runs, and complete control of Tucson’s timing. It was the kind of outing that deserved more breathing room than it received.
Instead, the game tightened. Tucson tied it late. Luis Prieto bent but didn’t break. The tension settled into the stands.

Then Camden Liston ended it.
One swing. First pitch. Bottom of the ninth. A solo shot into the Sacramento evening that turned frustration into release. It was Liston’s only hit — and the only one that mattered.

The Prayers didn’t celebrate wildly. They exhaled.


GAME 3 — June 6
Prayers 7, Cherubs 1

Fernando Salazar made sure there would be no ambiguity.
Eight innings. Three hits. One unearned run. Complete authority. Tucson reached base and stayed there, stranded again and again as Salazar worked through traffic without surrendering momentum.

Sacramento backed him early. Three runs in the first. Another in the third. Damage added in the fourth and fifth. It was relentless but controlled — the Prayers scoring with purpose, not panic.
By the time the Cherubs loaded the bases in the fourth, the game already belonged to Sacramento. Salazar’s sacrifice fly concession felt ceremonial, not threatening.

This was the response June demands.


SERIES THEMES — THE SHAPE OF JUNE

• Blowouts happen. Even to the league’s best. What matters is what follows.
• Pitching steadies everything. Rubalcava and Salazar combined for 16 dominant innings when the series could have tilted.
• The offense doesn’t need volume — it needs timing. Sacramento scored 11 runs in two wins without ever chasing the game.
• Composure is the currency now. The Prayers spent some of it Saturday — and earned it back Sunday and Monday.


THE JUNE REALITY

June is no longer theoretical. It’s loud nights, short turnarounds, and opponents with nothing to lose. The Prayers felt all of that this weekend — the embarrassment, the tension, and the calm that follows when they return to themselves.

They leave the series still on top, still learning, and fully aware that this month will not be kind — only fair. And Sacramento looks ready to meet it.