NYPL Vermont Lake Monsters

Lake Monsters Drop Roadtrip Finale 8-3 At Aberdeen

August 10, 2018 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Vermont Lake Monsters News Release


ABERDEEN, MD - J.C Escarra went 2-for-4 with a key three-run double in the sixth inning to lead the Aberdeen Ironbirds to an 8-3 New York-Penn League victory over the Vermont Lake Monsters on Friday night at Ripken Stadium.

The Ironbirds led 4-3 with two outs and no one on in the bottom of the sixth before wildness from Vermont reliever Rafael Kelly (4-4) plated an Aberdeen run on a wild pitch following a single and a pair of walks. Then after another walk reloaded the bases, Oscar Tovar came on in relief of Kelly and gave up the three-run double to J.C. Escarra to balloon the Aberdeen lead to five runs.

Twice over the first five innings the Lake Monsters put four straight hits together and had 11 total hits over the first five frames, but scored just three runs while leaving 10 runners on base (including bases loaded in first and second innings). After a Robert Mullen RBI single cut the Aberdeen lead to 4-3 with two outs in top of fifth, 13 of the last 14 Lake Monsters were retired in order (just a one-out Alfonso Rivas walk in the ninth).

Vermont had collected four straight hits to start the game as Jonah Bride led off with a double, followed by singles from Marcos Brito (RBI), Rivas and Nick Osborne to take a 1-0 lead with the bases loaded and no out. But Aberdeen starter Blaine Knight got out of further damage with a 5-2-3 double play and groundout.

After a walk by Kelly to begin the bottom of the fourth, the game went into an 18-minute power outage delay. Once play resumed, the Ironbirds showed some power themselves with back-to-back RBI doubles from Alexis Torres and Adam Hall followed by a two-out Robbie Thorburn RBI single for a 4-1 Aberdeen lead.

Vermont got two runs back with four straight two-out hits in the fifth. Anthony Churlin got the rally started with a solo homer to left for his fourth home run of the season. Aaron Arruda and Noah Vaughan followed with singles before Mullen's RBI single for the Lake Monsters final hit of the game.

Hammonds, who had held Vermont to just two hits with eight strikeouts over six innings back in June, allowed two runs on six hits with a walk and six strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings of relief for the win on Friday. Alexis Torres went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and an RBI, while Robbie Thorburn 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI for Aberdeen (22-30).

Lake Monsters starter Caleb Evans, making his first appearance with Vermont after being promoted from Arizona League A's, alowed one run on four hits with one walk and one strikeout over two innings. Bride went 2-for-4 with a walk, run scored and double, while Brito was 2-for-5 with an RBI single for Vermont (27-26), which despite the loss has still won six of last eight and 10 of last 15 games.

The Lake Monsters will head into the All-Star break with a two-game series Saturday and Sunday against the Stedler Divison-leading Tri-City ValleyCats (30-23) at historic Centennial Field. Saturday is Harry Potter Night at the ballpark with post-game fireworks following the 6:05 pm contest.

Check out the Vermont Lake Monsters Statistics



New York-Penn League Stories from August 10, 2018


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