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EL1 Chesapeake Baysox

Baysox Drown Out Thunder

August 26, 2008 - Eastern League (EL1)
Chesapeake Baysox News Release


(Bowie, MD) - Chris Tillman dominated the Thunder for six innings and a six-run seventh inning propelled the Baysox past Trenton 10-5 Tuesday night. Nolan Reimold contributed his third multi-homerun game of the year and Sebastien Boucher and Jonathan Tucker each went 3-for-4 to fuel the Bowie offense. The Baysox exploded for five homeruns in the contest, the most they have hit in any game this season. The power display was highlighted by three homeruns in the bottom of the seventh inning, the most homeruns the Baysox have hit in an inning this year.

Though there is still a week remaining in the regular season, Tillman conceded this game had a different air about it, "Yeah, we're looking forward to playing in the playoffs. We only play one game at a time, but it had a playoff feel to it since we're getting close. Everybody has it in the back of there mind but we're trying to concentrate on the task at hand. It would be nice to finish in first place, but I think we know we're the best team here so it's not the most important thing."

The Baysox started chipping away slowly, scoring runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings. Sebastien Boucher came up one out and the bases empty in the bottom of the third and crushed a homerun over the wall in straightaway center field to give the Baysox the lead. Matt Wieters made a heads-up play to score in the fourth inning on a throwing error by Trenton shortstop Ramiro Pena. Wieters came all the way around from second on an attempted double play when the relay throw popped out of Chris Malec's glove at first base. The Baysox increased the lead to 3-0 on back-to-back doubles to lead off the bottom of the fifth by Boucher and Carlos Rojas.

Tillman had a slow start but got sharper as the night wore on. He finished with 6.0 shutout innings, allowing just four hits and two walks while striking out eight batters. Tillman has now thrown 6.0 innings in each of his last five outings, for a record of 3-1 in those five starts. He has allowed a total of 5 runs on 19 hits and 7 walks through his past 30.0 innings of work, striking out a whopping 44 batters in that span. Tillman contributes his recent dominance to the progression of his curveball, "My off-speed stuff has come to me recently. I've been able to throw my off-speed pitches for strikes and once I do that it can keep batters off balance. I think my curveball is the main key. It's one of my best pitches and I couldn't throw it for strikes to save my life earlier in the year. Now that I've been able to get it over it's helped a lot."

Baltimore Oriole Chris Ray worked the top of the seventh in his first appearance for Bowie on a rehab assignment. Ray threw a perfect inning, striking out two out of the three batters he faced.

The Baysox blew the game open in the bottom of the seventh with six runs on three homeruns. Carlos Rojas got it started with a one-out base hit to right field. Nolan Reimold stepped in and destroyed a ball over the wall in right-center, an opposite field shot. With two outs, Ryan Finan and Jeff Nettles each drew walks and Mike Rodriguez connected for his third homerun of the year, a three-run blast to right field to make the score 8-0 Baysox. Jonathan Tucker drilled the very next pitch over the wall in left for the Baysox third homerun of the inning and their fifth of the game, making the lead 9-0.

Reimold also acknowledged that this game was a little bit different, "We might face them in the finals if we win the first round so it was good to gain some confidence against them."

Greg Aquino also joined Bowie Tuesday to begin a rehab assignment for the Orioles. Aquino worked a shutout eighth inning, allowing two hits and striking out one batter.

Bowie tacked on another insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on Reimold's second homerun of the game. "I went into a little funk there for a little bit, I had to get in the cage for a while and work some stuff out. A few days ago I did that and it worked. I'm feeling a lot better. It's a credit to the team that they've played so well. When the guy in the middle of the lineup isn't getting it done and the team keeps winning that's the sign of a strong team."

Ryan Keefer came on to work the top of the ninth with a 10-0 lead and got into some trouble. P.J. Pilitterre led off the inning with a base hit and Chris Malec hit a double to put runners on second and third. Pilitterre came in to score on a wild pitch and Edwar Gonzalez picked up a single to bring Malec home. Keefer got James Cooper on strikes for the first out of the inning before Reegie Corona doubled to put runners on second and third again. Keefer walked Pena to load the bases with one away before getting the hook. Gerardo Casadiego came on to close it out but gave up a double to the first batter he faced, Kevin Russo. The double scored all three runs, cutting the Baysox lead to 10-5. Casadiego settled down and retired the rest of the side without allowing a run on two ground balls back to the mound.

With the victory, the Baysox improve to 81-55, still ahead of Akron by 5.0 games for first place in the Southern Division with six games left to play. The Baysox look to move closer to clinching first place in the Division Wednesday with RHP Zach Clark (3-1, 2.70 ERA) going up against Thunder RHP Eric Hacker (7-3, 2.65 ERA).

The Bowie Baysox are out to Beat The Streaks in their 16th season as the "AA" affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. The Baysox have not reached the postseason since 1997 and have never reached the Eastern League Championship. Playoff tickets and tickets for all remaining regular season games are available on www.baysox.com or by calling the box office at (301) 464-4865.

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