EL1 Chesapeake Baysox

Tillman, Torrealba Topple R-Phils

Published on August 20, 2008 under Eastern League (EL1)
Chesapeake Baysox News Release


(Bowie, MD) - The Baysox got two homeruns from Steve Torrealba and one from Matt Wieters to back up another excellent start by Chris Tillman, taking Wednesday night's matchup with the Phillies, 8-2. With the victory and Harrisburg's loss to Trenton Wednesday, the Baysox magic number is down to three.

Matt Wieters jump-started the Baysox offense with a solo homerun to lead off the top of the second inning and Bowie opened a 1-0 lead. They struck for two more runs in the top of the third when Blake Davis got things going with a one-out double. Sebastien Boucher slapped a base hit into left field moving Davis to third and Carlos Rojas drew a walk to load the bases. Nolan Reimold singled on a line drive to center field, plating Davis and keeping the bases loaded. Wieters grounded out to first base for the second out but Boucher came in to score and make it 3-0 Baysox.

Steve Torrealba led off the top of the fourth inning with a solo homerun, his seventh on the year and his first of two in the contest. Blake Davis picked up another double with two outs in the inning, but the Baysox could not drive him in and the lead held at 4-0.

The Baysox added another two runs in the top of the sixth when Ryan Finan was hit by pitch to lead off ahead of Torrealba. The big catcher delivered with another bomb to left field, a two-run shot that gave Bowie a 6-0 lead. Torrealba has played in thirty games for the Baysox this year and has collected eight homeruns, including two multi-homer games.

Bowie tacked on another run in the top of the seventh on a throwing error by second baseman Luke Appert. Carlos Rojas came around to score from second base on an attempted double play when Appert threw wide of first.

Tillman finished the night allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out eight batters through 6.0 shutout innings. Tillman has returned to his early-season form lately, with four consecutive starts of 6.0 innings. He has allowed just five runs in that span (24.0 IP) and has struck out 35 batters.

Wilfredo Perez came on for Tillman in the bottom of the seventh and ran into some trouble. Joey Hammond led off the inning and greeted him with a solo homerun to left. Perez got Neil Sellers to ground out but catcher John Suomi smashed a triple to center field. Perez struck out the next batter, Michael Spidale, but then gave up a base hit to Luke Appert, scoring Suomi and cutting the Bowie lead to 7-2.

The Baysox made it 8-2 in the eighth. Torrealba hit a leadoff double, his third knock of the contest, and moved to third on a wild pitch with two away. Blake Davis capitalized and brought Torrealba in to score with a base hit up the middle.

Perez settled down after his shaky start and finished allowing those two runs on three hits over 2.0 innings. Chad Thall came on to work the bottom of the ninth and allowed two hits but no runs to close out the Phillies.

With the victory, the Baysox improve to 77-54 on the year, still 3.0 games ahead of Akron for first place in the Southern Division. With their victory and a Harrisburg loss Wednesday, the Baysox magic number is down to just three. The Baysox will look to whittle it down even further Thursday with RHP Zach Clark (2-1, 2.93 ERA) going up against Reading LHP Antonio Bastardo (2-4, 3.57).

The Bowie Baysox are out to Beat The Streaks in their 16th season as the "AA" affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. The Baysox have not reached the postseason since 1997 and have never reached the Eastern League Championship. Playoff tickets are available now; tickets for all remaining regular season games are available on www.baysox.com or by calling the box office at (301) 464-4865.

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Eastern League Stories from August 20, 2008


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