Baysox Take Another Series
August 10, 2008 - Eastern League (EL1)
Chesapeake Baysox News Release
(Bowie, MD) - The Baysox got another solid outing from starter Zach Clark and Nolan Reimold added a pair of RBI to lead Bowie past New Britain, 6-4 Sunday night. The Baysox took three out of four from the Rock Cats over the weekend, winning their second series over New Britain in the past two weeks. Clark worked 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits, but he pitched better than the numbers indicated as only one of the runs was earned. Julio Manon struck out the side in the ninth inning to tie the Baysox single-season franchise record for saves with 27. The Baysox lineup has been swinging the bat well from top to bottom, with eight different players collecting hits in Sunday's game.
Bowie got on the board early with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Jonathan Tucker led off with a double to center field and Carlos Rojas hit a sacrifice bunt to advance Tucker to third. Nolan Reimold picked up his first RBI of the night with a base hit to right field, plating Tucker and giving the Baysox the lead.
The Baysox scored twice more in the bottom of the third when Blake Davis led off with a single up the middle. Tucker struck out for the first out and Rojas struck out behind him, but Davis stole second base on the strikeout pitch. With Nolan Reimold batting, the catcher Palacios looked to have Davis picked off at second, but he feigned back to second and took off for third, stealing his second base in a row. He was rewarded when Reimold singled up the middle to drive Davis home, putting Bowie up 2-0. Matt Wieters drew a walk to put runners on first and second and Ryan Finan singled to center field, plating Reimold and increasing the lead to three.
Reimold went 2-for-4 with the two RBI singles and a run scored. He had been in a rut recently, but felt better at the plate tonight, "I felt good, I was on a little slide for a while but it was good to come out and get some knocks, especially with guys on base. Hitting third isn't very different from hitting fourth, I guess you know you're going to get up in the first inning so you have to be ready to get in there but I haven't been going about things differently. Hitting in Lou's spot, those are some big shoes to fill but there isn't too much different, it doesn't really bother me at all."
The Rock Cats got on the board in the top of the fifth when Rodolfo Palacios hit a one-out single to left field. He advanced to second on a groundout and Brian Dinkelman drove him in with a double to the gap in right-center, cutting the Bowie lead to 3-1.
Bowie stormed back in the bottom of the fifth inning when Matt Wieters drew a one-out walk. Ryan Finan struck out for the second out of the inning and Jeff Nettles walked to put runners on first and second. Mike Rodriguez slapped a base hit to right field to bring Wieters in to score and advance Nettles to third base. Brian Peterson smacked a base hit up the middle to bring Nettles home and Blake Davis followed with an RBI single of his own, driving in Rodriguez to make the score 6-1 Baysox.
Davis went 3-for-4 on the night, including the RBI single and a run scored. He has been hot lately, and with minimal production coming from the shortstop position in Baltimore, some speculation has surrounded him, "I haven't really been following the situation in Baltimore. It is what it is, if they feel like giving me a shot I'm ready to do that, but for now I'm just going to stay down here and keep getting better every day. I'm just going to go out early, take my swings, take my ground balls and keep improving."
The Rock Cats got to Clark for three unearned runs in the top of the sixth inning. With one out, David Winfree hit a dribbler in front of the plate and Brian Peterson threw low to first base, allowing Winfree to reach on the error. Matt Moses hit a single down the left field line to put runners on first and second and Danny Valencia got a base hit up the middle to load the bases. Felix Molina grounded out to second base, advancing the runners and scoring Winfree to cut the Baysox lead to 6-2. Rodolfo Palacios stroked a double into the right field corner to bring home Moses and Valencia and cut the Bowie lead to two runs.
Clark came out for the top of the seventh and allowed a double before getting the first out of the inning and coming out of the game. Clark was efficient, going 6.1 innings while throwing only 80 pitches. He was pleased that he got deep into the game and kept his team in it, "Getting early outs is most important, I got into a little trouble when guys were hitting me early in the innings, but that's what I've been trying to do. That's what gives us a chance to win so I'm glad to give us a chance. I got into some trouble when I got the ball up. As a sinker-ball guy, when the ball gets up people start hitting you. Even on the grounders down the line, those were balls up, when I keep the ball down, people aren't getting hits off me. If they do get hits when I'm around the knees I just have to tip my cap."
Wilfredo Perez and Gerardo Casadiego combined for 1.2 perfect innings of relief before turning it over to Manon in the ninth. The closer was flawless in recording his 27th save, tying both the franchise mark and moving into a tie for the Eastern League lead.
With the victory the Baysox improved to 71-52, one game back of first place Akron in the Southern Division. The Baysox will head to Trenton for a three-game series with the Thunder before returning to Prince George's Stadium for a three-game series with Binghamton beginning Friday, August 15th. RHP Brad Bergesen (14-3, 3.01 ERA) will look to set a Baysox single-season franchise record for wins on Tuesday against Trenton RHP Carl Pavano (0-0, 0.00 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 are available beginning August 12th; 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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