Lawson shuts out Challengers in 4-0 win

Patrick Lawson threw a complete-game shutout against the Challengers en route to his fifth win of the season, and the Challengers drop three games behind the front-running Bern Cardinals in the standings.

Robert Sedin also went the distance, but lost the duel in the closing innings.

Eidrys Reyes further added to his hits total by lining three singles in three at-bats, pushing his team-leading to .486. Three other starters had one hit each, and pinch-hitter Patrick Maier provided the only other hit off Lawson.

The two Americans went head-to-head through the first couple of innings with none of the two offenses managing to put together anything essential.

While the Cards had one runner reach third base and another one second base through the first five innings, the Challengers only had one as Tobias Siegrist led off the fifth with a single and advanced to second on Reyes' sac bunt. But a ground out and a strike out later, the teams remained in a 0-0 deadlock after five.

In the top of the sixth, the Cardinals halted Sedin's shutout streak at 20 innings as Vitus Huber sored from third on a wild pitch.

While the Challengers kept missing at Lawson's pitches, the Cards scored two more times in the eighth inning on Lawson's double, Samy Paulino's RBI-triple and Huber's sac fly for a 3-0 lead.

The Cards scored another run in the final inning on Tobias Imboden's RBI-single, handing Sedin his season-high fourth earned run.

Game notes
Sedin began his scoreless streak of 20.0 innings with one out in the first inning against the Lucerne Eagles on June 23, continued it with a 9-inning shutout of the Zurich Lions on June 27 and kept it going until his wild pitch in the sixth inning with one out. ...No Challenger reached third base all game. ...Reyes' 35 hits rank second in the league behind Therwil Flyer Josh Tamba's 36.