Royalty Shines, RubberDucks' Offense Jumps on Fightin Phils Early, 5-3
May 20, 2021 - Eastern League (EL)
Akron RubberDucks News Release
The RubberDucks use early offense, scoring five runs over the first four innings, and a strong start from Alex Royalty to down the Reading Fightin Phils 5-3 on Thursday night at Canal Park.
Turning Point
After surrendering the lead in the top of the second, the RubberDucks would answer back in the bottom half when Jose Fermin came home to score on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, Andruw Monasterio would single home Richie Palacios to stretch the new Akron lead to 3-1.
Mound Presence
Alex Royalty got the start for the RubberDucks and ran into some early trouble in the second inning by allowing an RBI single but would escape the jam by getting a flyout to leave runners on the corners. Royalty would settle in and keep the Fightin Phils off the board the rest of his start. Aaron Pinto would enter the game in the seventh with two on and two in, and after walking the first man he faced, would escape a jam by getting back-to-back strikeouts and a flyout. Pinto would not allow a runner past first over his next two innings of work to close out the game.
Duck Tales
The RubberDucks opened the game's scoring in the bottom of the first when Palacios doubled and came around to score on a Monasterio single. In the fourth inning, Monasterio doubled home Alex Call to stretch the Akron lead to 4-1 before coming home to score himself on Josh Rolette sac fly. The Ducks went 1-for-3 with a sac fly with the bases loaded in the game. Akron left 12 on-base and was 3-for-12 with RISP.
Notebook
Rolette's sac fly in the bottom of the fourth inning was his first RBI of the season ... Andruw Monasterio picked up his second three-0hit game of the season and first multi-RBI game of the year, bumping his batting average up to .250 this season ... Alex Call stretched his hitting streak to four games with ... Aaron Pinto continues his hot streak, bringing his ERA down to 1.54 over 11.2 innings pitched, allowing only two earned runs over that span ... Time: 3:24 ... Attendance: 1,969
On the Pond
The RubberDucks' continue the series on Friday, May 21 at 7:05 p.m. as Union Home Mortgage welcomes fans back home to Canal Park when the Ducks face off against the Reading Fightin' Phils. The game broadcast, powered by FirstEnergy, is on 640 WHLO, the WHLO iHeartRadio channel, and the TuneIn Radio App, and available on MiLB.TV. Shane McCarthy (0-0, 1.17 ERA) will take the mound for Akron against Reading's starter Ethan Lindow (0-0, 4.70).
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