Wildness Costs Garcia, Doubledays
August 24, 2011 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Auburn Doubledays News Release
Niles, OH -After rattling off two impressive performances in the past 10 days, Doubledays reliever Christian Garcia finally showed he is human, allowing three runs in the sixth inning as the Mahoning Valley Scrappers rallied for a 7-6 win on Tuesday night.
Garcia, a free agent signee by the Nationals one month ago, entered play Tuesday night with a 2-0 record in his last two appearances with 10 strikeouts in 6 innings pitched. Pitching with a one-run lead in the sixth, Garcia quickly worked his way into trouble.
After striking out Alex Lavisky to start the inning, Garcia then allowed three of the next four Scrappers to reach on two hit-batsmen and a walk. With the bases loaded and two outs, Garcia walked Jake Lowery, forcing in a run and tying the game at five.
Even then, the Scrappers weren't done. Jordan Smith laced a double into leftfield, scoring two more runs and putting the Scrappers up two runs. Garcia worked his way out of the inning but not before the damage was done.
Despite the loss, the Doubledays picked up a half-game on second-place Williamsport, who was swept in a doubleheader at Batavia on Tuesday. Because of their loss to Mahoning Valley, Auburn's lead over the third-place team shrunk to three games.
Trailing four to nothing entering the fourth inning on Tuesday, the Auburn offense went to work. Back-to-back doubles by Matt Skole and Justin Miller gave the Doubledays their first run. Two batters later, Hendry Jimenez drove a sacrifice fly to the wall in right field, scoring Miller and cutting the deficit to 4-2.
In the fifth, Auburn took the lead. After Wilfri Pena singled on a ground ball to short, Caleb Ramsey blasted his first professional home run into the home bullpen in rightfield, tying the game at four. Bryce Ortega followed with a bunt single, and he scurried home one batter later on an RBI double by Matt Skole, robbing the Scrappers of their lead.
Unfortunately, the Doubledays weren't able to hold that lead long after the Scrappers plated three to take the lead in the sixth. Auburn got a run back in the seventh on an RBI single by Angelberth Montilla, but it was too little, too late.
Lost in the shuffle of the contest was good bullpen work by Alex Kreis and Ben Hawkins, who each bounced back from poor outings in their previous appearances by tossing a pair of scoreless frames. Offensively, Auburn pounded out twelve hits, with five different players posting two-hit efforts. Matt Skole and Caleb Ramsey each had a pair of extra-base hits with Skole drilling a pair of doubles and Ramsey doubling in the first and blasting a home run in the fifth.
Auburn will look to bounce back from the loss on Wednesday night when they meet the Scrappers for game two of the three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm at Eastwood Field in Niles, Ohio. Fans are invitied to listen to the audio play-by-play at 89.1 FM in Auburn or at www.auburndoubledays.com.
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New York-Penn League Stories from August 24, 2011
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- Cutters Rally Comes up One Short - Williamsport Crosscutters
- Lake Monsters Drop 3-1 Decision At Hudson Valley - Vermont Lake Monsters
- State College Spikes Game Notes - August 24 Vs. Jamestown - State College Spikes
- Greece Athena Grad Brian Dupra to Start Against Batavia Muckdogs - Batavia Muckdogs
- Aberdeen IronBirds Game Notes - Aberdeen IronBirds
- Wildness Costs Garcia, Doubledays - Auburn Doubledays
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