NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The Sanford Mainers Thursday rallied for four runs in the top of the eighth inning and went on to a 4-1 win over the North Adams SteepleCats at Joe Wolfe Field.

 

Two of those runs were due to an outfield error, one of three miscues in the game, on a night when the 'Cats got stellar pitching from Tyler McKinstry and three relievers.

 

"That was definitely one of the better performances by the pitchers, collectively, really all summer," North Adams manager Ryan Abel said. "They got outs, got us off the field, gave us opportunities.

 

"And I thought their pitchers were equally as good, and you can see that with the amount of hits."

 

McKinstry, Jonathan Peterson, Joseph Sabbath and William Gervase combined to strike out five, walk two and scatter six hits.

 

A classic pitchers duel between McKinstry and Sanford starter Thomas Ellison (6 innings, seven strikeouts, one hit) was 0-0 going to the bottom of the seventh.

 

That is when North Adams got back-to-back hits for the only time in the game -- and they were big ones.