Oscar Gonzalez Home Run Lifts the RubberDucks Past Fightin' Phils, 3-2, on Military Appreciation Night
May 21, 2021 - Eastern League (EL)
Akron RubberDucks News Release
On the first of what is going to be back-to-back sellouts at Canal Park, the Akron RubberDucks defeated the Reading Fightin' Phils 3-2 on Military Appreciation Night thanks to a critical Oscar Gonzalez two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth.
Turning Point
Tonight's game turned on a dime in the bottom half of the sixth inning, when Bo Naylor worked Jonathan Hannigan for a leadoff walk. The very next pitch, Oscar Gonzalez laced a line drive home run to dead center field off the batter's eye, giving Akron the run support they needed to take the 3-2 lead the distance.
Mound Presence
On the mound to start the game for the RubberDucks was Shane McCarthy. McCarthy struggled in the first as he gave up a 2-run home run but settled down after that and ended up going five innings, striking out three, while giving up two hits and three walks. Skylar Arias came on for Akron in the top of the sixth. Arias would go 1.2 innings, striking out 2 and surrendering a hit and a walk with no runs against him. Nick Mikolajchak came into the ninth inning and slammed the door shut to pick up the save in the RubberDucks 3-2 victory.
Duck Tales
Reading struck first to start of the game when Matt Vierling belted one over the wall in left field for a 2-run shot and gave the Fightin' Phils a 2-0 lead. Akron would get their first run of the game in the second inning. After loading the bases, Richie Palacios drew a walk and brought home a run to cut the lead to one. Despite bringing home a run in the second inning, the RubberDucks left the bases loaded for the fourth time in two days, combining for a total of twenty runners stranded. The game would be quiet until the bottom of the sixth. With Bo Naylor on first, Oscar Gonzalez, the team leader in home runs, smoked one deep to straightaway center and bounced off the top of the wall for Gonzalez's fifth dinger of the year and a 3-2 lead for the 'Ducks.
Notebook
The RubberDucks had three players celebrating their birthday Friday Night. Tyler Freeman (22), Eli Lingos (25) and Josh Rolette (25) ... Tyler Freeman went hitless tonight (0-for-3), thus ending his nine-game hitting streak and bringing his batting average down to .327... Oscar Gonzalez tallied his fifth home run of the 2021 campaign, which moves him to solo third in the league leaders list of home runs for the Double-A Northeast ... Time of Game: 2:39... Attendance: 3,586.
On the Pond
The Ducks and Fightin' Phils will meet for game five of this 6-game series at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday at Canal Park. The game broadcast, powered by FirstEnergy, is on 640 WHLO AM, the WHLO iHeartRadio channel, and the TuneIn Radio App, and available on MiLB.TV. Eli Lingos (1-0, 5.40) will start for Akron against Reading's Francisco Morales (0-2, 16.43).
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