EL1 Chesapeake Baysox

Sea Dogs Slip Past Baysox

Published on August 10, 2010 under Eastern League (EL1)
Chesapeake Baysox News Release


BOWIE, Md. - The Bowie Baysox gave up four unearned runs in the eighth inning to blow a one-run lead as the Portland Sea Dogs won 6-3 Tuesday night, in front of a boisterous crowd that included the entire U.S. Naval Academy Plebe class for Navy Night, presented by Navy Federal Credit Union. The calamitous inning negated an excellent start by Baltimore native Steve Johnson, who matched a season-high with 7.0 innings on the mound with two runs on four hits. Johnson struck out five batters, bringing his season total to 105 punchouts, and was walk-free for the first time since September 6, 2009.

"I was just trying to throw strikes, and for once I didn't walk anybody," said Johnson, who is unbeaten in his last five starts with four wins in that time. "It was a lot of pitches that I didn't throw to hitters that allowed me to go longer into the game. It was getting ahead and just having a good curveball, slider, change-up. Everything was really working for me. I was able to get ahead and stay ahead, which was good."

"It's just confidence," Johnson said, explaining his recent run of good form. "When you are struggling, you have confidence, you know what you can do, you're just not seeing results. It might not affect it that much, but an inning here and there and that's all it takes. You lose for an inning and you're four runs down and you gave up two home runs. Mainly it's just I've been able to have some success and been able to go longer in the game. Basically just trying to limit my pitches and let my fielders make the plays, and they did today."

"I think the biggest thing is tonight, with the no walks, he's done a better job of pitching to contact down in the zone, on his terms, the last four or five starts," said Baysox Pitching Coach Kennie Steenstra. "Just overall, pitching down in the zone better than he was earlier in the season. The biggest thing for him is just attacking hitters and throwing strikes. He was just working too many deep counts and falling behind too many guys early on. He's on a nice little roll right now and hopefully he can carry it on the rest of the season."

Johnson allowed both runs in the top of the first inning. Leadoff hitter Che-Hsuan Lin singled to center field and seaecond baseman Nate Spears smashed Johnson's 0-1 pitch down the first base line and over the wall for a two-run home run, Johnson's Eastern League-leading 21st allowed this year.

Bowie regrouped and erased the 2-0 Portland lead in short order. Designated hitter Joel Guzman opened the bottom of the second inning with a double to right field, and moved to third as first baseman Joe Mahoney's infield single put runners on the corners. Left fielder Brandon Waring grounded into a double play, as Mahoney was forced out at second, but it gave Guzman the opening he needed to score and cut the deficit to 2-1.

Center fielder Jonathan Tucker struck in the bottom of the third inning with a leadoff home run over the left-field wall that tied the game at 2-2. The homer was Tucker's first of the 2010 campaign, and his first since he knocked one out of the park August 2, 2009, at New Britain.

"It feels great [to hit my first home run of the year]," Tucker said. "The camera guy [beside the dugout] actually called the shot. He said, 'You're going to hit a home run today.' And I said, 'Yeah, I need it.' To get that goose egg out of the column, it's as good a time as any."

Johnson settled into a groove after the first inning, and faced just one batter over the minimum the rest of the way. The Baysox grabbed the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Second baseman Carlos Rojas led off with a walk and moved to second base on shortstop Greg Miclat's sacrifice bunt. Third baseman Ryan Adams, who recently broke the Baysox single-season doubles record, put runners on the corners with a single to left field. Portland starter Jeremy Kehrt then threw a wild pitch to right fielder Tyler Henson that sent Rojas across the plate for a 3-2 Baysox lead.

With the lead in hand, reliever Raul Rivero took over for Johnson in the top of the eighth inning. He walked third baseman Ryan Khoury to open the inning before outfielder Chih-Hsien Chiang grounded out to Rojas for the first out, moving Khoury to second base. Lin hit a chopper straight at Rivero, who made a smart play to draw Khoury off second base and into a rundown that allowed Lin to take second before Rojas applied the tag on Khoury.

The Baysox nearly got out of the inning unscathed as Spears hit a ground ball to first base, but Mahoney missed the ball when he tried to make the routine play, and Lin raced around third and across the plate to tie the game as Spears took second base.

"I just missed it. That's baseball, that's how it works, you have to take the good with the bad," Mahoney said. "I just didn't make the play."

Mahoney's error proved to be critical, as Spears scored on Ray Chang's single up the middle of the diamond. Chang scored on catcher Luis Exposito's double to right field and Exposito capped off the scoring with a run on first baseman Anthony Rizzo's single to right field.

Rizzo was forced out at second on Ryan Lavarnway's fielder's choice grounder to third base, but the Sea Dogs tallied four runs to take a 6-3 lead before Rivero could shut the door.

The Baysox were retired in order in the bottom of the eighth inning, and reliever Sean Gleason did the same to Portland in the top of the ninth inning.

After Adams struck out and Henson flied out to right field, Guzman gave the large mid-week crowd of 8,521 one final glimmer of hope in the bottom of the ninth inning, with a single to center field. His hit was as close as Bowie would come to a rally, as Mahoney flied out to the shortstop for the final out.

The loss drops the Baysox to 63-52 on the year, but they were fortunate as nearly all of their Western Division rivals lost to their Eastern Division counterparts, and the playoff picture remained unchanged. Bowie hangs on to second place, 3.0 games behind division-leaders Altoona and 2.5 games ahead of the hard-charging Harrisburg Senators.

The Baysox play two more games against the Boston Red Sox Double-A affiliate, including Orioles Pride Night on Thursday. Baltimore Orioles outfielder and 2008 Eastern League MVP Lou Montanez returns to the Baysox on a Major League rehab assignment for the next two games, and he will be joined on Thursday by Orioles right-hander Jim Johnson, a Baysox alumnus from the 2005-06 seasons.

After this series, the Baysox hit the road for six games in Erie and Trenton before Richmond and Akron come to Bowie for a six-game home stand. That home stand includes Fairy Tale Night on Wednesday, Aug. 21, with kids' favorite fairy tale characters available for a meet-and-greet before the game. Fans can also catch the Baysox for a record-low price of one dollar on Wednesday, Aug. 25 with a coupon that can be printed out from Baysox.com.

Think Outside The Box with the Baysox in 2010. The Baysox 18th season as the class Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles is almost over. Catch all the action in Natural Definition! Baysox full-season and partial-season ticket packages are available now at www.baysox.com or by calling the group sales department at (301) 464-4880.

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Eastern League Stories from August 10, 2010


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