Spinners Lose Battle of Attrition in 14th, 6-5
July 5, 2015 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Lowell Spinners News Release
TROY, NY - 12 pitchers. 25 men left on base between the two teams. The Lowell Spinners, tying the franchise record for wins in the first 16 games of the season, simply ran out of gas late on Sunday night as the team spotted the Tri-City ValleyCats a 4-1 lead, roared back to tie the game in the late innings, but fell in the 14th inning, 6-5.
Lowell (12-5) jumped out early in the third inning, as Alex McKeon turned on a 1-0 fastball and drove it over the left field wall.
Tri-City (8-9) answered in the bottom of the inning, getting back-to-back singles and then a balk to put runners in scoring position with no one out. An RBI groundout and a sacrifice fly put the ValleyCats ahead, 2-1.
The ValleyCats added another run in the fourth, even though Spinner starter Luis Ramos struck out the side. Ramos's first strikeout victim of the inning, first baseman Bryan Muniz, reached on a passed ball, and after a wild pitch advanced him to second, scored on an RBI single.
After Tri-City extended their lead to three with a run in the fifth, Chad De La Guerra cut the deficit with his second home run of the season, a no-doubter that was still rising as it left the ballpark.
Lowell continued to climb back into the game in the seventh as the team loaded the bases on a walk and two singles and De La Guerra drew a bases-loaded walk but the Spinners could muster no more as Andrew Benintendi flied out to center.
Victor Acosta then crushed the team's third homerun of the game in the eighth, a moonshot over the left field wall to tie the game.
Lorenzana's homerun was his second in as many nights, a blast that flew out of the stadium in a hurry, the team's fourth round-tripper. Tri-City would not go away however, tying the game on a base hit in the bottom of the 11th.
The battle of attrition however favored Tri-City as the Spinners simply ran out of pitchers. Infielder Aneudis Peralta escaped a bases loaded jam in the 13th inning with the help of a Luis Basabe double play at the plate, but could not play Houdini twice in the 14th. After walking the leadoff hitter, a balk would advance him to second, a bunt single to third and a single up the middle gave the ValleyCats the win.
Ramos exited in the sixth inning after allowing four runs on six hits. He did strike out six and only walked one. Randy Perez was outstanding in relief of Ramos, pitching three-plus innings of one-hit ball, walking and striking out two. Danny Zandona, who came on in the 10th, could not close the door, allowing the ValleyCats to tie the game in the 11th. Taylor Nunez also tossed a scoreless inning before giving way to Peralta.
Lowell had nine hits and almost half of them left the yard, with Lorenzana and De La Guerra each collecting their second homeruns, while McKeon and Acosta each smacked their first of the season. McKeon had two hits out of ninth spot in the order to lead the team.
Lowell will have Danny Rosenbaum (0-0, 2.77) taking the ball for manager Joe Oliver in an attempt to win the rubber game in this series with their Stedler Division rivals. First pitch is scheduled for 7 pm.
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