HAGERSTOWN, MD-Darren Byrd tossed a complete game five-hitter as Lakewood topped Hagerstown 3-1 on Monday night at Municipal Stadium.Byrd (9-10) struck out eight in the win, including Marcos Cabral to end the game with a runner at first base. It was the first complete game of Byrd's career and the 2nd for the BlueClaws in 2007 (Carlos Monasterios, July 20th vs. West Virginia).
Both starting pitchers, Byrd for Lakewood and Yunior Novoa for Hagerstown, faced the minimum 15 (Byrd allowed one hit and Novoa two) through the first five innings, with Byrd retiring the first 12 batters that he faced, before the Lakewood offense began to get going in the 6th.
After Julian Williams doubled and Quintin Berry was hit by a pitch with two outs, Tuffy Gosewisch doubled them both in to give Lakewood a 2-0 lead. He would score when Novoa dropped a throw covering first on an Adrian Cardenas infield single.
Byrd allowed a run in the bottom of the 7th on a Francisco Plasencia home run but just four other hits on the night.
Novoa went six and fell to 5-12. Two of the three runs were earned.
Lakewood (31-30) wins both games this week in Hagerstown after the Suns (22-41) won two at FirstEnergy Park on Friday and Saturday nights.
Lakewood returns home Tuesday to open a four- game / three-day series with Lake County. The clubs will finish a suspended game at 6:05 tomorrow night before the regularly scheduled game, which will be pitched by RHP Scott Mitchinson (2-2) of Lakewood and RHP Jeanmar Gomez (11-7) of Lake County.
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