Spinners Can't Find Late Inning Magic, 6-4
August 12, 2015 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Lowell Spinners News Release
BATAVIA, NY - For the third night in a row, it seemed as though the Lowell Spinners were going to find success with another come-from-behind victory. However, after taking the lead in the middle innings, the Spinners' bullpen fell apart in the eighth, allowing Batavia to grab a 6-4 win.
The loss dropped Lowell to two games back of Stedler Division leader Tri-City and a half-game behind suddenly surging State College in the New York Penn League wild card race.
Batavia (22-28) took advantage of Spinner starter Javier Rodriguez's erratic first inning to push ahead for two runs. A one-out walk followed by a wild pickoff attempt and a double led to the first run. Back to back wild pitches then plated the Muckdogs' second run before Rodriguez was able to settle down.
The Muckdogs extended the lead in the fourth on another three errors by the Spinners, as a leadoff single turned into a runner on third with nobody out after another wild pickoff attempt by reliever Daniel Gonzalez that Tucker Tubbs could not handle. Then, on a chopper back to the mound, Gonzalez threw wild to the plate and the runner from third scored and the batter reached second, two errors in one play.
Lowell (27-25) scratched back in the fifth as Austin Rei opened the inning with a double, moved to third on a passed ball, and after a walk, scored on a fielder's choice groundout by Jeremy Rivera. Rivera then stole second base and scored on a single by De La Guerra.
The Spinners pulled ahead in the seventh inning as Aneudis Peralta reached on an infield single, moved to second on an error and Rivera reached on a bunt to set the scene for De La Guerra's heroics. The triple was a deep fly ball that went all the way to the right-center wall, easily scoring Rivera from first with the go-ahead run.
The lead was short-lived, however, as the Batavia lineup attacked the Spinners reliever Trevor Kelley (1-1, 2.00) as he reported to the eighth in order to protect the lead. After recording an out on a sacrifice bunt, Kelley proceeded to hit a batter and gave up back-to-back singles that put the Muckdogs ahead. Kelley then walked a batter and induced a groundout that scored Batavia's sixth and final run.
Rodriguez was plagued by wildness once again as he only could make it through three innings. He walked four, struck out three and allowed two unearned runs. In his seven starts this summer for the Spinners, Rodriguez has walked four or more batters six times and his ten wild pitches are second on the team behind Jake Cosart. Gonzalez, after a shaky start of his own, settled down to strike out seven over four innings of relief and was in line to pick up the win before the wheels came off in the eighth.
Rei and De La Guerra had two-hit nights to pace the offense, and with his three RBI, De La Guerra increased his team lead to 25 in that category.
Kevin Steen (0-0, 2.45) will go for his first win in a Spinners uniform tomorrow night as first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm.
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