Chen Belts Homer, but Baysox Win, 9-5
Published on April 14, 2013 under Eastern League (EL1)
Akron RubberDucks News Release
Bowie, MD - The opportunistic Bowie Baysox erased an early, five-run deficit Sunday, and then took advantage of an error to roar back and capture a 9-5 victory over the Akron Aeros at Prince George's Stadium.
The Baysox (6-5) won three out of four in the series. Akron (3-7) held leads in two of the three losses, including Sunday, when they jumped to a 5-0 head start.
Early in the game, it was the Aeros that took full advantage of defensive mistakes. The Baysox committed two errors in the second inning, opening the door for three Aeros runs off starter Mike Wright. Carlos Moncrief stroked an RBI single in the inning, one of his three hits on the day, and Ronny Rodriguez added an RBI groundout.
In the third, Chun Chen led off the inning with a long home run to left field, his first of the season. Moncrief, Giovanny Urshela, and Rodriguez followed with consecutive, two-out singles to give the Aeros a 5-0 lead.
Akron starter Toru Murata (1-1) gave up a pair of runs in the third, and then served up a solo homer to Bowie's Caleb Joseph in the fourth to make it 5-3. In the fifth, the bottom fell out for the Japanese righthander, who was brilliant in his first start against Altoona last Monday.
In the fifth, Murata retired the leadoff hitter, but then surrendered a single and walk to the next two batters. He recorded the second out on a fly ball to Kyle Hudson. The next hitter, scrappy second baseman Ty Kelly, hit a routine ground ball to second that was muffed by Jose Ramirez for an error, thus loading the bases with two outs.
It was Joseph's turn again, and the Bowie slugger delivered a two-run single to right to tie the game, 5-5. Murata was lifted in favor of righthander Cole Cook, who came in to face third baseman Buck Britton. Britton continued the hit parade with a two-run double into the right field corner to give Bowie a 7-5 lead. All four runs in the inning were unearned.
The stunning comeback benefited Baysox reliever Clay Schrader (2-0), who entered the game after Wright exhausted his pitch count after 4 2/3 innings. Schrader worked 2 1/3 scoreless innings to pick up his second win.
The Baysox, who ended the day in a first-place tie with Harrisburg in the EL West, tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth against Brett Brach.
Murata also worked 4 2/3 innings, and gave up seven hits and seven runs, but only three were earned. He walked two and struck out two.
Chen was 2-4, to raise his average to .313. Moncrief's 3-4 performance raised his average to .294. Quincy Latimore had two hits Sunday, following a three-hit night Saturday, and is hitting a robust .355.
Another bright spot for the Aeros was catcher Jeremy Lucas, who made his Double-A debut following an all-night flight from the Indians extended spring training camp in Goodyear, Arizona. Lucas, a second-year pro out of Indiana State, went 0-2, but drew two walks and threw out all three runners who tried to steal on him.
The Aeros will travel north to start the second leg of the road trip in Trenton on Monday night at 7:05. RHP Danny Salazar (0-2) will start for Akron, while LHP Nik Turley (0-1) is the announced starter for Trenton. Monday's game will be carried live on Fox Sports 1350 AM, and online at www.sportsradio1350.com. For more information, please call the Aeros at 330-253-5151.
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